The Antilles Trap
by Paul Nankier
Summary: Jump back to the high-flying 70's with this AU sequel to A New Hope. Han Solo is forcefully reunited with his swashbuckling past and the harsh pirate, Captain Antilles. Go back when Darth Vader was not Luke's father, just the baddest bad guy in the galaxy
1. Chapter 1

Someone was tapping a glass and the high-pitched tones of a crystal goblet echoed throughout the large hall. Luke raised his head from his meal and strained to look through the haze above the crowded tables. In the center of the long dais at the front of the room stood the princess. Leia was truly beautiful, he thought. She was majestic in a long white gown adorned with various jewels and bands of gold. It was a fitting visage compared to the way she looked in the prison cell where he first saw her. Still, even in that cell, she took his breath away. He stared for a long moment in hopes she would look his way. She did not.

It was a large gathering in the ancient great temple hall. Created by a culture long since extinct, this temple was the center of the current rebel base. In attendance were the remaining leadership of the rebellion, some dignitaries and the remaining warriors. At their center was Leia. She waited a moment for the noise in the hall to settle. She was so proud to be with them all, and realized this might the last time they would all be together at a dinner like this. In fact, she concluded, it definitely would. Having the entire rebellion in one place meant they all could have been wiped out, and that is a risk they cannot let happen gain.

"I want to thank everyone for their efforts in the past few months, but especially for yesterday," she spoke loudly to the room. "It was a day that will live in story and song for eons. This is the turning point. This is where we stood together and turned the tide. We all thank you." She raised her glass high and the crowd seated raised theirs in return.

"Now we would like to stop for a moment to remember those lost. Those fallen in battle, and especially those poor souls back on my home, Alderaan who-" she had to stop as her voice cracked on the name. An elder gentleman stood up and held her slightly. He continued, "For Alderaan", he spoke solemnly and bowed his head. Those seated did the same, and the hush of silence stifled the room so it seemed to close in, as everyone took a collective breath.

Luke looked down at his food. It was not much of a meal really. These were rations and not much could be spared. It was a grim reminder of the situation he was in. Still, there wasn't any other place he would rather be. His Aunt Beru could certainly have whipped up something better. They never had much back on Tattooine and yet she never made a bad meal. His thoughts wandered to the conversations around the dinner table, the dreams he shared with them, and the hopes both Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had for him. It pained him to think they would never know of this day, never know of the hit he personally gave back to the same Empire that took their life. Yet, that wasn't enough. It didn't ease the pain. It didn't do much at all, and he still missed them terribly. A general with a long white beard Luke recognized from the mission briefing was the last to speak, and his words were dyer.

"The Empire is on the move. We have word from our furthest allies that most of the Imperial Fleet have been on alert and have been mobilized. We have just hours, perhaps not many. There is little time to rest on our victory. Your commanders have their orders and the rendezvous point. May the force be with us all."

Luke made his way out with the rest of the troops hoping to bump into the princess, but he could tell she went out another way with the rest of the dignitaries. The point hit home that he was not one of them, and now he felt a little out of place with the rest of the soldiers. The only pilot he had known was Biggs, and he was dead now. He had just a few moments with him before the mission. He can't even remember when he saw him before that. Now he was gone, a hero now. But if they ultimately failed, who would remember him? Luke concluded the same could be said of him, of all of them, and he walked on.

Even though it was late and dusk had fallen over the temple grounds, there was a flurry of activity and engine noise. Ships of all sorts were lining up and being packed with supplies. There was one taking off every few minutes. Luke kept on walking. He knew he should report to a commander, get onto the business of the rebellion, yet he couldn't right now. His feet felt like lead as he trudged along, not sure what he was looking for. The excitement of these last three very long days had worn him down and he felt like leaning up against a hull for some sleep, if only for a few moments. The most suitable one appeared just to his right.

The Millennium Falcon had seen better days. Large black laser burns scarred the entire rear of her belly. That was a sure sign that her shields were failing during the battle and she was lucky to make it back here at all. It was one of the happiest sounds Luke had ever heard, Solo in his ear so nonchalantly commanding him to "blow this thing, and go home". Was Han just that lucky? Was he just that crazy? Why did he come back? If he had been in the mission from the start, been part of the planned attack, he would have been shot up just like all the rest. Yet he shows up late and gets the glory anyway. Luke wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Hey kid, you gonna wear that thing the rest of your life?" came the familiar voice from above him.

"Hey, Han- what?" answered Luke.

Han Solo stood on the edge of the Falcon's topside and crouched down. He was wearing his usual clothes, added were some work gloves and a large wrench, which he pointed at Luke's chest.

Luke looked down and didn't remember he had never taken off the large medal that still hung around his neck where Leia had placed it early that morning. Now that he was conscious of it, he was shocked that he never realized how heavy it was.

"You know- I forgot", he said as he picked it up slowly. "Silly, right? I guess everything else is all starting to hit me now and- I don't know. I just forgot."

A large figure emerged from the darkness behind Solo. It was the wookie. Chewbacca grunted emphatically at Solo. He lifted up the welding goggles he was wearing to emphasize whatever point he was trying to make.

"Yeah- I know! Can you give me a second here, it's Luke!" Han replied and turned back to Luke. "Sorry, we took a lot of hits heading back into that mess. It's going to take some work to get us back out again. Why don't you come inside for a bit, take a load off. Looks like you might need it."

Luke didn't turn it down. He walked up the ramp, made his way past the main galley and collapsed onto one of the side bunks. He had been using this same bunk before. It brought a small comfort to think this was the closest thing to home at the moment. By the time Han made his way down to check in on him, Luke was in a deep sleep.

"Long day," he spoke softly to the sleeping Luke. "Don't I know it." He made his way topside again.


	2. Chapter 2

Luke knew it was a dream, but he didn't mind. His eyes were still blurry as he squinted to make out the soft figure of Leia just a few feet away. She had a slight glow around her and he thought it just fit somehow. She turned towards him and smiled.

"It's about time. Who knew you were such a deep sleeper."

After a second he realized this was not a dream, and he quickly sat up only to bang his groggy head on the top of the bunk.

"Leia! Ahh!"

"Whoa- take it easy there!"

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, Luke- better than you I think," she laughed.

"How did you find me?" Luke asked.

"Well, Han said you crashed down here. I can't blame you really. No one is going to miss those cold barracks on the far side of the base.

"Barracks? I didn't even make it that far."

"Well, they're closed out already. In fact, it looks like most have gone, save for you and flyboy up there."

"How long did I sleep?"

"It's just about dawn. Maybe- seven or eight hours from the dinner."

Luke straightened up a bit and leaned in a little to Leia.

"Listen, Leia, I just wanted to say- I mean, I never got a chance to say how sorry I am about Alderaan."

Leia's smile went away, and she looked intently at Luke.

"You know, " he continued slowly, "there I was so upset about Ben, when I didn't even realize- I mean I should have, but I guess I just got caught up. I'm sorry."

Leia stood up now and her voice grew a little stern.

"There is nothing to be sorry about. This is all out war now. The sacrifice they made on Alderaan is a sacrifice we are all prepared to make. There is no turning back- no diplomacy. There will be no peace until the Empire falls. You know that, don't you?" She spoke with a determination that seemed a bit forced.

"I know." Luke paused and looked down. "They got to my family too."

"I had heard that, I'm sorry" she said and reached out her hand and touched Luke's back slightly. "I'm sorry, I have to go Luke" and she quickly turned and walked out of the ship.

Luke gathered himself together, still waking up, and went after her. This was a bit of a breakthrough, he thought. They had a real connection now. As he made his way outside he could see the dawn approaching. The gas giant that held the moon in its orbit was directly overhead, and it bathed everything in a purplish pre-dawn glow. Luke saw Leia was walking across the temple plaza. It was mostly empty now, with most of the starships gone. He was about to call for her when a voice boomed from behind him,

"Hey? Where ya going?" Han yelled out.

"Nowhere- I just wanted-" Luke replied, but Han cut him off.

"Not you!" retorted Han.

Leia waved out one of her arms and didn't turn around. She kept walking.

"Luke, what did you say to her?" Han demanded.  
"Nothing- she just left. That's all"

"Right." Han paused and pinched his mouth slightly to one side, still watching as Leia walked on. He turned to Luke, "Hey- you feel like giving us a hand for a minute?"

"Sure-" but before Luke could finish his sentence he was interrupted by loud sirens that echoed throughout the temple complex. Several fighter pilots were running top speed across the plaza towards the fighter hangars. Luke waved out to one of them running past the Falcon.

"What's going on?" he yelled.

"Luke- where have you been?" asked a young pilot who resembled a younger version of himself. Luke vaguely remembered speaking with him before the Death Star battle, but couldn't remember his name. "It's the Imperial Fleet, they're here! It's too soon, we have to fly cover and get the rest of the transports out. We have to move- C'mon!"

Luke turned back to Han.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah- I heard enough- go ahead...and good luck!"

"Hey- may the force be with you," Luke smiled to Han.

"Right," Han smiled and nodded back.

"Get out of here yourself!" Luke called back and started running with the others.

"No kidding," Han muttered to himself.

He ran over to Chewbacca who was welding closed a large panel along the top of the ship.

"Chewie! C'mon- no time buddy. We've got to go- now!" he said as he grabbed a few tools that were scattered across the topside.

Chewbacca did the same and quickly they were below. The engines started slowly but roared to life as Han pushed them full open. The Millennium Falcon lazily lifted up, spilling dust and debris all over. Several soldiers who were still running through the plaza had to dive for cover as the tremendous force of the Falcon's engines came on. The ship listed and spun heavily out of its dock. The engines expelled bright plasma and the ship shot up with tremendous speed. It blasted through the thin fog that was covering the temple grounds and thundered up into the sky above.

Luke heard the Falcon's engines and turned back to see the white disc of the hull shooting up, turning into a small speck of light against the early morning sky. There were thousands of tiny specks of light glittering beyond. It was the ominous sign of incoming spaceships. He assumed most were the enemy, and he was glad Han got out when he did.

A couple of minutes later he met his commander. He was given a small group to lead. The young pilot he ran into was among them. They were all very young. Most of the veteran pilots were lost over the Death Star, and there were not many rebels left who could even fly.

The orders were simple, escort the remaining ships to orbit and give them a chance to go into hyperspace. They would all meet up at the rendezvous point. And under no circumstances were their ships to be captured. Any tractor beam locked on their ship meant a self-destruct order. And once you're "in the black, watch your back!" Luke had a good sense of the Empire's fighter tactics by now, and felt as ready as he would ever be. He was very pleased to get his Artoo in back of his X-Wing once again.

"Great to see you little guy!" he exclaimed to the little droid. Artoo squeaked a response that signaled the feeling was mutual. As he climbed into his X-Wing cockpit and was fastened in, he gave a quick glance up. The canopy sealed shut and silence filled the small space and Luke spoke softly towards the sky.

"I think I might need you again Ben. I hope you're out there."

He paused to wait for an answer but there was none. He started to wonder whether he really did hear Ben. Maybe it was just his longing to speak to him again, to learn from him, just the echo of a memory. So much was lost with him. Luke shook off the thought and knew somehow he really was still around.

The X-Wing fighter slowly rose as the huge engines in the rear powered on. They sounded a bit rough and as tired as Luke was. He had a feeling this is the way it would be like from now on. They were the hunted, and it would be a constant run. Still, he took complete comfort in the pilot seat, especially in an X-Wing. He had heard so much about these fighters, and this one didn't disappoint. He flicked a few controls to customize his console. He tilted his seat back a bit and then forward, then just back where it was. Fits like a glove, he thought. He never wanted to leave it again.

Just before the ship lifted out of the hangar, Luke caught sight of Leia. She was entering a large rounded ship with several generals and commanders. It had some royal markings on it that made Luke wonder why anyone would put them on there. They might as well paint a big target on the top as well. Behind her, scampering up the ramp was C3-PO. It was good to see him again and know he would get out in one piece. He knew the princess would too. He was going to make sure of that.

After a few seconds Luke was at full power and blasting up through the atmosphere. He leaned over slightly to look down at the base. A few peaks of the temples were all he could see. The rest was well covered. Artoo let out some more squeals and Luke turned forward to see why.

Beyond the temple peaks hundreds of Imperial Bombers were closing in. They began dropping bombs quite far off and the canopy of the forest lit up bright orange instantly. Huge billowing walls of flame stretched across the horizon. Luke immediately turned the X-Wing to circle around and ordered his group to engage. But where was the Princess' ship!

He checked in with command. Communications were completely jammed- data links, ship to ship, all of them. Even the new secure channels. That will certainly put a damper on this little getaway mission. That was a little too clever, Luke thought. Someone from the Empire had been paying attention from the battle the day before. The Death Star was destroyed with all on board. All enemy fighters were believed destroyed in the massive explosion as well. So the question was, who was left behind?


	3. Chapter 3

The monstrous Imperial Star Destroyers were still assuming attack formations when a lone bow winged TIE fighter made its final approach towards the command ship. It was leaking fuel and pieces were falling off as it entered sideways into a docking bay. Its controls damaged, the small ship lifted and spun several times before crashing and skidding across the landing bay. Finally it came to a stop while careening into a line of folded TIE fighters, which shattered, sending twisted metal shards everywhere.

Imperial stormtroopers raced over to clear the debris. The back of the crushed TIE fighter fell open, and out walked the very tall and very dark figure of Darth Vader. He walked passed the troopers, each of whom stood in attention as they noticed him. The rest could hear the slow methodical breathing of his ventilator and stopped what they were doing and lined up in inspection ranks.

"Lord Vader!" the ship commander exclaimed across the hangar as he exited the elevator and walked quickly to meet the dark lord. Vader stopped walking and waited for the man to reach him.

His cape was torn along its edge and there was dust on his boots, but other than that, Vader was unscathed. That was the first thing the commander noted to himself as he reached him.

"It is remarkable to see you Lord Vader. When we heard the report we feared the worst, what with the Governor, and the weapon destroyed."

"It was my report, Commander. It is safe to assume I survived." Vader spoke in his terribly deep voice that emanated from somewhere in his suit. Commander Vinn had never spoken to Vader before and he was surprised how his voice was so low and terribly strong he could feel his teeth move if he stood too close.

"Yes, of course" he stammered back.

"Why do you have unused fighters on the hangar deck, commander?"

"Well- I" he was interrupted by Vader.

"I am assuming command, and your incompetence is noted. Launch the rest of the fighters!" Vader ordered and waved his hand. He strode forward towards the elevators.

"Where is the admiral's ship?" he yelled back at Commander Vinn who had not yet moved several feet behind him, but quickly caught up.

"The rest of the fleet is on its way. They had been on their way to Dantooine, which as you know is on the far edge of the outer rim. It will take a few hours for them to arrive."

"Take me to the bridge", Vader demanded.

He needed the admiral's flagship to make contact with the Emperor. He had ached to speak with his master since the destruction of the Death Star. Then he would clearly explain the total failure of Governor Tarkin. It was obvious the entire governor system was weak, and a single forceful hand was needed to finally crush the rebellion and maintain order. Vader was the only one who could do it, and he was certain the Emperor knew this to be true.


	4. Chapter 4

Luke blasted through another bomber sending it hurtling down in pieces of flaming debris. He flew down low and skirted the treetops. There was really no sign of anyone below. She must have gotten away. He throttled up and soared straight into the sky. Within minutes the sky changed colors and grew black as he soared into orbit. The scene was chaos. Whatever rebel ships remained in space were being swarmed by Imperial TIE fighters. They were in every direction Luke could see. Quickly he adjusted his scopes to pick up all friendly ships nearby. There were not many but a cloud of enemy targets made it difficult to see. He spun around the X-Wing and located the first ship in need of help. It was the princess.

Her ship was hit multiple times but was still able to maneuver fairly well. It was zigging and zagging in and out of oncoming ships. Luke was able to match her direction and speed quickly, and began to blast a path for her as he zoomed past. TIE fighters flew by, then one exploded in a burst of spark and flame. Huge chunks of the fighter came barreling back towards Luke's fighter, but he was able to swing to one side. Luke was trying to give enough room for the princess' ship to jump into hyperspace. He knew they just needed a path and she would be clear. He tried to raise her ship on the radio to no avail.

"Artoo- see if you can't cut through this jamming. There must be a way!"

Artoo blurted some annoyed beeps back at Luke, which he ignored. Just as he looked up he could see the engines of the Royal transport heating up into a bright white. Her hyperdrive was activating. With a flash the vessel shot forward into a long streak of light. It was gone that quickly.

Luke relaxed a bit in his seat. At least she was away. He looked about. Above him four large destroyers were slowly turning in his direction. He felt like a charge was in order, but thought better of it as he checked for more friendlies. Nothing left except a few scattered Rebel fighters. They were shooting into hyperspace one by one. The mission appeared successful. Then he was hit from behind. And it jolted him right up out of his chair for a moment.

Two TIE fighters had closed in on him and were blasting him repeatedly. The hits were glancing blows and his shields were minimal but were holding. He quickly darted his ship over and changed direction. He spun and twisted the X-Wing well beyond what it was designed to do. The metal frame groaned under the strain and pressure, but held together. The engines spurted on and off as he steered the ship up and over on 180 degree flips. In an instant, both TIE fighters shot past him and tried to recover. It was too late.

Luke ignited all of the laser cannons and one TIE exploded into the other one. Fuel and fire filled the space all around him. He throttled through, which ignited the fuel and shot out of a massive fireball, leaving a trail of fire behind him. He looked back at the long flames trailing off his wings and thought it looked fantastic.

He checked his settings and coordinates for his jump. He knew he had to act fast. According to the scope hundreds of TIE Fighters were making their way in his direction. Then there was a single friendly blip on his scope, but only for a split second before it vanished, being swamped by enemy signals.

"Who is that Artoo" He scanned around with his eyes to try to locate the ship. He could see that the large destroyers had moved past him now and were closing in on a small disc, completely surrounded by the thousands of little squares of TIE fighters. Luke had a pretty good guess at whose ship that was.


	5. Chapter 5

"That is the Millennium Falcon, General," Vader's voice boomed across the bridge of the lead destroyer. "It's the same rebel ship captured on the Death Star. Get a tractor beam. I want that ship in one piece."

"Yes sir" the general replied and then barked orders to his fighters.

"Commander, do not let that ship escape. I am holding you personally responsible," Vader turned and spoke to Commander Vinn with an outstretched hand, directed at his throat.

"Yes, Lord Vader" he replied. "Tell the other captains to surround and contain that ship" he said to one of the communications officers on a lower deck of the large bridge. At the same time he slowly made his way from the side of Vader who was standing at the front of the long platform that went down the center of the large bridge. Vader was suddenly fixated on the darting moves of a small speck that was somehow evading direct assault by entire squadrons of TIE fighters.


	6. Chapter 6

Han Solo was mad, and mostly at himself. In his rush to take off from the base, he hastily fastened the housing containing the circuit boards of the small but very important navigation computer. He had done what any responsible captain would have done. He updated the star navigation data from the base's headquarters. But upon throwing it back in and preparing to blast off, he left one of the hinges pushed in but not locked. He knew it because it didn't click, and it didn't click on the third and fourth try, when it finally jammed. It had to be completely removed and re-set, and only then it would be secure. He had known this from experience, but he had also known that if it were jammed in hard enough it would stay, and work just fine.

It wasn't until a rogue TIE fighter came up behind the ship and blasted them hard, shaking everything looses not nailed down, that Solo realized his mistake. When they were just about to jump into hyperspace, the nav computer beeped a little error message, and went offline.

"Fine" Han calmly thought, "it just came loose". It was when he approached the access hatch in the narrow gangway and saw the small device scattered in a half dozen pieces that he really lost it.

"Chewie!" he yelled as yet another blast knocked his off of his feet.

"Rhaaargh!" Chewie yelled back in disgust.

"I don't care _how_ many destroyers, just dodge them. I'll be right back!" Han yelled up the short hallway towards the cockpit.

"I think we're in trouble", he said quietly to himself while holding two main pieces of the nav computer that would never go back together again. Just then he heard a large explosion overhead. Then another. He made it back to the cockpit windows to see two huge TIE fighter wings spinning apart and shooting past them in flames. In between them a lone X-Wing fighter soared past and zoomed back up and out of site.

"Haa haa! That's our boy!" Han laughed and shouted as he pushed and pulled Chewbacca's fur on the back of his neck, just as he did his family pet as a kid. It was something that Chewie never really cared for.


	7. Chapter 7

"Artoo, see if you can't fix that com link. We've got to talk to them", Luke yelled back at the little droid. Artoo squeaked that he was doing his best.

Luke jammed the controls straight down and made a quick orbit around the Falcon's stern. His heart was pounding from adrenaline. He was constantly firing and shot off the edge of another TIE fighter's wing, sending it hurtling to one side. They were everywhere. Luke noticed some far ahead were creating blockade formations, a net to try to close them in. Another blast shook him as four more fighters engaged. A total of eight TIE fighters were now tailing closely both the Falcon and the X-Wing as they darted and twirled at maximum speed. Luke did his best to match Han's moves, but he was having trouble keeping up. Then something flashed in his mind.

He was back on the Millennium Falcon. It was just a couple of days ago but seemed like a lifetime. Ben had given him a helmet while training with his lightsaber. The blast shield was down. The calm voice of Ben reached into him and said to stretch out with his feelings, not to trust his own eyes. He thought of the remote, its movements. He had reached out to the small object. He sensed it as it floated in front of him. Moreover, he could see it, not so much what it looked like, but what it was doing. And more importantly, what it was going to do.

Back in the cockpit he closed his eyes and thought of the Falcon, felt its presence and where it was, and what it was doing. Its movements slowed and were almost dreamlike. Luke could easily tell where it was heading. He moved the controls with ease. He started to sense the fighters around as well. There was a new one up ahead and it was closing. It was coming in from a side angle. Luke strained to sense it. It was moving fast!

He looked up and saw the new speedier TIE Racer. Instead of lasers, it had missiles which came pouring out of it by the dozens. They were streaming towards himself and the Falcon. Luke focused and the missiles slowed down, so did the ships, so did everything. Time was slower. He could feel his arms moving sluggishly, and his thoughts had to wait for them to catch up. He guided his ship directly in front of the missiles and let go a barrage of lasers, as fast as they could physically fire.

The missiles disintegrated in a large cloud. Luke continued on towards the new fighter. He could sense the shape of it. He could sense its engines. He could also sense the pilot inside. His movements were clear to Luke, even a little of what he was feeling. He was reacting to Luke's ship now. He was frantic. There was fear, much fear. Luke fired another round towards the fighter. The pilot turned to avoid the lasers, but Luke had anticipated his actions and led the lasers directly into his path.

In just a few direct hits they cut through his shields. The following blasts ripped into his hull. It was all so horrifically slow to Luke. The cabin decompressed immediately. The pilot grabbed his helmet, and twitched as it cracked in his hands. There was pain, terrible pain. So much that Luke felt instantly ill. He doubled over in his cockpit and looked back up just in time to see the fighter explode in a huge fireball.

Luke gathered his shaking hands together as blasts shook his ship from all sides. Artoo beeped that his shields were dangerously low. Luke already knew that, but hesitated to do anything about it. Artoo also turned on the helmet radio. A hail signal was being answered.

"Luke! Luke- is that you? Can you hear us? X-wing pilot, respond to hail!" came the voice of Han Solo crackling in Luke's helmet. Luke did not respond. He struggled to fathom what he had just experienced.


	8. Chapter 8

"The force is _very_ strong with this one," Vader mused to himself.

Darth Vader had a change of plans as he overlooked the small battle taking place below his massive destroyer. He had ordered the ship banked on end so he could get a better look. There was no doubt this was the same pilot who navigated all the way down that narrow trench along the Death Star's surface. Who avoided taking more than glancing laser hits, even with no room to maneuver. Who was able to make a shot deemed so impossible, the mere suggestion was laughed at the by the officers who paid for their arrogance with their lives.

"Commander, close your net on that rebel fighter as well. I want a tractor beam on them both immediately!"

The commander motioned to the lieutenants who were below the long catwalk. They were busily moving among the different stations to make sure tactics were being executed correctly. They all stopped what they were doing to listen to Vader. He commanded the room, and there was really no need for the commander to give any further orders.

"Lord Vader," Commander Vinn softly approached. "That fighter is extremely outnumbered and is engaging many of our fighters aggressively. I don't think we will have a chance to capture it before our pilots destroy it."

"Your pilots will not be able to destroy that fighter." Vader responded loudly, "Commander, you will capture the pilot, and bring him to me."

"Sir," burst out one of the younger officers from the rear of the room. "The Admiral Starship is approaching", he said excitingly.

"Order them to launch all fighters, and tighten your net Commander. I want those ships! Have a shuttle ready in the hangar. I am on my way," Vader said as he hastily exited the bridge.

"Of course," replied the commander in a low voice, mostly to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

"Luke!" A voice blasted into Luke's helmet and shook him back to reality.

"Yes, yes! Han I can hear you!"

"I knew it had to be you! Listen, we need a plan, buddy. Things have gone from bad to worse for us," he said.

Luke could see what he meant. Out in front of them appeared several destroyers jumping in from hyperspace. A slightly larger one was in the lead and was spilling out TIE fighters by the dozens. They were all racing right for them.

"Okay, I think now would be a good time to make your jump," Luke said as he moved along side the Falcon. They both flipped and turned away from their pursuers.

"Yeah- great idea! That's gonna be a little hard. My nav computer is fried!" He yelled as he pulled on the controls to keep the laser hits to a minimum.

Chewie gave an update on the shields, and Han promptly yelled back to stop giving him updates. He was thinking frantically. A blind jump was a last resort, and one that usually ends in death. Still, there was a slight chance they would make a line through space without hitting anything, or anyone. He had also heard stories of gravity sinks that can tear anything apart that comes within ten parsecs, not his idea of fun. He wasn't even sure the ship could jump.

"Luke, you better get on out of here. There's no use in both of us going down. Thanks for coming back- but it's no good." Han said as a hint of sadness came over him. In his hold was enough wealth to pay his bounty and live comfortably for a while. Maybe get things in his life together again. Just the luck- he finally gets enough to completely pay of his debts, and he just can't jump away.

"Wait a minute" Luke yelled as he looped around the Falcon again, firing at several more TIE fighters that screamed past them going the opposite direction. "Just get behind me. I make the jump, you make the jump. Stay close on my tail and follow me in. The same exact course. It's simple'"

Han's thoughts raced around the idea. It was simple, but crazy. The slightest move would throw him out of Luke's wormhole. Maybe a handful of pilots could even come close to pulling it off. Han began to like the idea even more.

"You have to make it a dead ahead straight shot. Forget the rendezvous, just get us out here!" Han responded.

"I'm already working on that", Luke yelled out as more blasts came across his wings.

Overhead a large destroyer was now hovering. Han saw it and changed course. He saw on his scopes that a tractor beam was repeatedly trying to lock onto the two ships but kept missing. It was also firing its large laser cannons. The wide shafts of energy had narrowly missed them a few times.

"Brother, if we get hit with one of those, we're toast", Han muttered over to Chewie.

"It's ready!" Luke yelled out. "Get in behind me, I am going to clear a path and hit it."

"Right!" Han said.

Luke zoomed his ship in front. He turned down and away from the destroyer closing in. Ahead of him was a large array of TIE fighters waiting in formation. They all started to move towards them at once. Luke charged straight into them at full speed. His lasers came alive with bright bursts that landed on several targets instantly. The massive explosions opened a hole in the group, and Luke punched his engines to get right through it.


	10. Chapter 10

Aboard the closest destroyer on the lowest decks there were several artillery operators and the lieutenant in charge who noticed the new tactic of the small fighter. It was obvious that they were now lining up for a jump. The wall of TIE fighters ahead of them would make sure that wasn't possible, and leave them vulnerable. The lieutenant had been ordered to merely disable the ships, not destroy them. That was a fine line, and at this point the officer didn't really care if he crossed it. He ordered the full bore of all the guns to open up, and put an end to this game.

Luke could sense something, a familiar feeling. It was Ben. It felt like he had been with him all along.

"Jump Luke! Get away!'" came the voice clear as crystal ringing in his head.

Luke pounded another round of blasts and took out the last TIE fighters ahead of him. More were closing fast.

"Han, we have to move!" Luke yelled out. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah- hit it!"

"On three! One, Two..."

As Luke was about to count to three the small space around the ships exploded with light from above. Raw laser energy from the closest destroyer overloaded their shields in an instant. Fire was everywhere. Luke reached up as more lasers hit his ship. He reached for the red hyperspace lever and pulled. All around turned a cool blue glow. Long trails of stars streaked pass his canopy.

His relief quickly turned to worry as he scrambled to look back for Han. His scopes were useless in the wormhole, so he strained to see him. He looked into the small mirrors that lined the sides of his cockpit. There was nothing. But he thought maybe he could see a small speck. He slightly eased the controls by a small fraction to reduce his speed. Quickly the speck grew and approached. It was the Falcon.

The ship was a mess. There were fires burning all across the topside. Luke struggled to see into the vessel. The side cockpit was completely dark. Small chemical flames were flowing over its edges. He thought he could see flames or sparks inside. Was the hull intact? He tried to raise them on the radio.

"Han? Han, Chewbacca? This is Red 5 to Millennium Falcon. Do you read?"

There was still a lot of static coming through, and Luke tried to fine tune.

"Artoo, see if you can't isolate that signal. I think I heard something!" he said back to his small companion. Then Luke thought of something. Try to use the force.

He focused on the Falcon behind him. He closed his eyes and slowly he could see the ship appear in his mind's eye out of the darkness. It was floating before him. He was free to circle around it. He could make out all of the slightest details on the ship. He saw so much detail it was almost painful. His mind strained to take it all in, causing his head to ache. He saw the damage inflicted by the last parry of cannonfire that landed on its topside. He saw the hull was still together. He sensed the cabin. It was dark. It was difficult to make out what was going on. He sensed tremendous confusion, even anger- but that meant there was life!

"Han, come in Han!" Luke yelled into the small microphone that stretched out past his helmet.

"This is Solo, we're alright", a weary voice scratched across the empty static. "We had a couple of fires, but we're alright."

Luke was relieved. He looked back and could see some interior lights were just now starting to pop back on inside the small side cockpit. The exterior structure was bruised and beaten. Tubes and components seem to be hanging and some were still smoldering with fire.

"Han, you've got some loose fires on the exterior. I don't know what it is, fuel or something. You should probably do something-" Luke had to stop. He was startled at what he saw.

The Falcon bumped up a bit as a small explosion lit up the underside. Flames engulfed the ship for a brief moment. Then it started to tilt to one side and did a very slow tumble forward.

"Chewie! Aw, c'mon! Are you kiddin' me?" Han groaned on the radio.

"Han?" Luke knew something was going terribly wrong.

He saw the Falcon drop a little, then in a flash it flew back and disappeared. In an instant it was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

The Imperial shuttle was just clear of the landing bay when Vader saw the two rebel ships from his seat behind his shuttle pilots. They had clearly changed course and were trying to blast their way out of the blockade. He also saw the head destroyer closing in. They would be in tractor beams in a matter of moments. He ordered his pilot to get the ship's commander on the radio. He was about to order them placed into the larger and more secure admiral ship.

He stopped when he noticed that instead of tractor beams, there were huge laser blasts emanating from the underside of the monstrous destroyer. The cannons showered the two rebel ships with a curtain of energy. There were massive explosions and then the two were gone. From what Vader could see they were completely obliterated without a trace. But Vader knew his eyes had deceived him, the force told him otherwise.

"Commander Vinn," Vader coolly spoke into the radio. "Track the last know trajectory of those ships."

"Lord Vader, I regret, uh- that is, it is our belief that they were destroyed," the commander stammered, "I'm afraid there was some miscommunication on the lower decks. There is nothing left of them, sir. "

"They jumped into hyperspace, commander- both of them. You will be able to track the Millennium Falcon from a tracing signal. Start that immediately, then meet me on the Admiral's ship and we will discuss your failures in person."

"Yes, Lord Vader," answered the commander in a distant tone.

Vader would now have to tell the Emperor of this failure as well. It was obvious Vader would have to take a direct role in command of the military. This further backed his push for a large enough command ship to crush the remaining rebel sympathizers and restore order. It would not be difficult. In many ways the destruction of the Death Star cleared obstacles to Vader, including Tarkin. All ironically due to one rebel pilot.

The admiral's flagship approached as Vader pondered about that pilot who wielded the force. He was reckless, undisciplined, definitely not Jedi. Vadar had no sense that the rebel had detected him and his own command of the dark side. Still, even though his abilities were raw, there was great power in him. And what of his connection with that Corellian ship. The Millennium Falcon carried Obi-Wan, and perhaps the pilot as well. Was it Kenobi's apprentice? Possibly one who's training was cut short by Vader himself. This pleased him greatly as he calculated his next moves. His regulator sounded deep breaths as he sat in thought.


	12. Chapter 12

The Millennium Falcon was dark and adrift, slowly spinning end over end through the cold darkness of space. The windows of the cockpit were edge lit by emergency lighting that was beginning to fade. Smoke drifted throughout the cabin and the smell of burnt rubber and foam filled the air. Chewbacca came into the cockpit and calmly went over to a toolbox in the corner and looked for a missing wrench. Han Solo was not as calm when he clammered into the small room.

"Well?" he asked as he turned and saw Chewie in the corner.

"Garawww." Chewbacca grunted back.

"Yeah- well that really doesn't help us right now. I don't even know how you can see with these cruddy emergent lights. Why don't we get the juice back on first? Huh?" Han insisted.

"Rahh Arggh grahhh grahh", Chewie snorted in response.

"The air is fine. We can breathe, can't we? We've got plenty of air- for now."

Han looked around and leaned back, falling into his captain's chair. The interior never looked so small, he thought. It must be the lights. Everything was off. The ship had gone dead and fallen out of hyperspace, and they were nowhere. He doubted Luke would be able to find him, or would anyone for that matter. When would air be a problem? He once had to figure out the air for the hidden compartments quickly when they were sucked into that Death Star, and that was plenty for the better part of a day. This was a much larger space- but how long would they be out here? Not for long, he decided. He made his way out of the cockpit.

"I'm getting power back up", he said to Chewbacca as he left. Chewie ignored him and continued to look through the tools.

Soon Han was underneath the main deck and had wedged himself into the crawlspace. It was a little over a foot high and crammed with cables and pipes, and definitely not enough room for someone of his size. He moved surprisingly well, until he got stuck.

He could imagine Chewie getting a blow torch to get him out when he managed to squeeze himself forward and free. He placed a small flashlight between his grimaced teeth and shone the light ahead. In front of him were the couplings for the two main power systems. One was an auxillary backup, that was blown out, and the other the main. That was fried as well. Han unhooked the back up and unhooked the main.

His plan was to plug the backup into the main, combine the systems and pray it would just come back on. This was, of course, extremely dangerous and something one should never do. The two were separate for a reason, and might just blow up if combined. Han knew this, but always had a good feeling about this ship, and felt she just wouldn't do that to him, at least not without a warning.

Han went to plug into the main, but to his frustration, the coupling just didn't fit. Then he heard it. It was the unmistakable scampering of little feet. Then a rustle and a thud. There was something alive down here. Han froze for a long moment, then he tried to move fast, but could barely squeeze an inch at a time. The noise started far beyond his legs in the darkness of the small space. Then they scampered behind some unseen panel off to his right, and up past him. Now it was somewhere beyond his head. He grabbed the small light and pointed it all around, but could see just hanging wires, as it was not bright enough to penetrate more than a few feet.

He held his breath and strained to listen. Over his incredibly loud pulse that now throbbed in his ears, he heard it again. It wasn't tiny. He had a good idea what it was. When he first acquired the ship he was shocked to find on his first overnight flight huge bilge rats would come out and scour the decks for food when the lights went low. Not that they needed any. They were fat off of the some old organic waste stored far below, and they were nasty. It took both himself and Chewie to kill off a half dozen that night.

At the next port, and several times since then, he had the ship fumigated and treated for further outbreaks. He was pretty secure in the feeling they were gone forever. Now some mutant offspring had obviously found a way to survive in the bowels of the Falcon, and it made Han queezy to even think about it.

He listened again and heard movement slowly coming towards him. There was an odd clicking sound now. In a moment it would be on him. He struggled to move his arms up. He looked for a tool, anything to use as a weapon. More thuds approached. Whatever it was, it was heavy. Han grabbed the light and shone it ahead. The thing jump out at him and stopped right in front of his face.

It was a machine, a droid of some kind, and an ugly one at that. It had a big red light for an eye and few black tentacle-like arms that were swinging and rotating around. One of the arms raised up and out of it popped up a little silver metal weapon with a sharp point. Sparks started to fly out of it as a small arc of electricity shot forward from it and struck the light Han was holding.

Han dropped the light and moved back as far as he could, which wasn't much. The thing shot forward for Han. He grabbed the coupling for the auxiliary power and shoved it onto the droids little weapon. Sparks few everywhere as the light on the front of the little droid flashed a bright red. A whizzing sound could be heard as smoke arose from the top of it. The red light turned bright white then blew out, and sparks flew out of its back. It dropped down and collapsed in front of his face.

Han took a breath and then summoned all of his strength and jammed the auxiliary power coupling into the main power socket so hard that its housing cracked. Small puffs of smoke shot out and then loud thumps could be heard all over the ship. Moments later there was a low audible hum as the main power came back online. Light streamed in from the grates directly above Han, coming from the main cabin. He took a brief sigh of relief and then turned his attention to the small droid that almost took his head off. He grabbed it by the legs and made his way back out. He was glad to see the hatch that led up was fully illuminated with light again.


	13. Chapter 13

It was a third straight shift in no-man's land. The large round creature rolled over again to try to get comfortable in the very uncomfortable chair. It was his job to just sit here. This was the lowest of the low. He was being punished without being explicitly told as much, and he knew it. He was sitting in a small pod of a ship drifting in deep space. He was out here in the dark as an early warning for any authorities who might happen by. This was the furthest out of the way place any authority would come. If they did come, they would be here for only one reason, to attack. To warn the Legion of an impending attack was a very important job, he knew, but it was also one for a journeyman, and not an accomplished and esteemed ship's captain, such as himself.

It was a game he had to play to get his command back. He had a run of bad luck and this was the price he had to pay. He pulled a small hat down over his eyes and decided to waste his time sleeping as much as he possibly could. He was a few minutes asleep when a small sensor alarm lit up and buzzed on his console. There was an anomalous power surge in this sector. He woke up and leaned forward with his nose up to the console and sniffed at it. It was real, blinking and buzzing incessantly. He switched it off.

In a few moments he had honed in on the power source's location. He fired his auxiliary engine in a quick burst so as to quietly sneak up on whatever was out here. It was within range of his sensors when his scans returned some data. It was a ship, but not Imperial. It didn't look like a bounty hunter either. What the creature found most peculiar was the way it was traversing in space, slowly tumbling and barely moving. It was adrift, the large creature decided. He moved closer in to get a better scan. When he scanned everything he could on the ship with no luck he finally got a hit off of the engine signature. He found that engine's history, where it came from, and where it ended up. As he leaned towards the miniature green screen to read all of the information he started to laugh.

"Oh, this is rich!" he thought aloud. "You have got to be kidding me", he said as he leaned over and switched on his secure communications link. "I knew my luck would change- I knew it!"

He grabbed a small microphone and stretched its wire back across the small cabin and peered with a wide grin of dark green stained pointy teeth into the little monitor that displayed various information about the Millennium Falcon. The entire ship history, save for recent events, was available in front of him.

"This is Conjo- priority one!"

"Wha? Con- who?" cracked the voice on the other end, sounding very far away.

The large creature grew irritated and shifted in his seat. He grabbed his hat off in frustration, revealing a large tattoo of twisted vines across the top of his bald head with a small skull at the very center. He knew damn well the voice at the other end knew exactly who he was, and this annoyed the hell out of him.

"I said- ", he continued slowly, "priority one. Get me a direct link to Captain Antilles!" His grin grew back even wider. "He's going to want to hear this."


	14. Chapter 14

Chewbacca was down by the engines when Han found him.

"It's nice to be able to see again, huh?" Han motioned to the lights while talking to Chewie.

Chewie grunted as he had the hyperdrive wide open with many large chunks of engine parts all over the large engine room. The main hyperdrive engine took up almost the entire room from wall to wall.

"Yes, I know. Thanks for fixing the air," Han replied to him. "Look what almost killed me under the main deck." Han held up the spiny droid by its legs and twisted it oddly before throwing it onto the floor towards Chewbacca.

"What do think that thing is?" Han asked.

Chewie picked it up and carefully rotated it. He took a long knife-like tool and poked at the back of the droid. Instantly the little back opened up to reveal a compartment. Chewie took another tool and pulled out a long cable that had a little folded dish antennae at the end of it. Han came over and knelt beside him looking carefully at what he had found.

"That's a transmitter alright. It looks Imperial to me. Great," Han said as he sat back against the hull.

"Yaahrr grrrr aaagh aagh" Chewie spoke as examined the small antennae closely.

"Homing beacon, eh? I guess the princess was right about that after all," Han said to him. Chewie grunted back in reply.

"Well- you don't have to take her side every time. She called you a walking carpet, remember?"

Chewie laughed a few snorts and moved a couple of pieces of the hyperdrive to one side to get closer to the rear of the gargantuan engine. There were access panels dimly lit, pipes that came out and just stopped, some were even cracked. Steam drifted along the floor along its massive metal edges. Han walked over to some valves and twisted them closed and the steam stopped. Chewie grunted quickly, he was watching Han intently as he walked around. Han slowly strolled back and turned the valves open again.

"Happy?" Han said.

"Yaaarrrrgh", answered Chewie.

"Man, you gotta relax", he said as he made his way out of the engine room.

Han only went a few feet when a tremendously loud bang shook the ship. He stopped in his tracks and went down on one knee. Then there was another one and all of the lights flickered. Chewie came running up next to him and both of them headed towards the bridge.

By the time they got there several more slams shook the ship from all directions. They ran into the cockpit and were astonished at what was before them in the windows. There were at least three small ships a short distance in front of them with long cables stretching out of their sterns towards the Falcon. There were two more smaller ships zipping around, fighter escorts.

The closest ship with cables fired two more that rocketed towards them and hit the ship hard. Instantly they attached somewhere below and the Falcon shook again as the cables pulled taut. Han jumped into his captain's chair and powered up the weapons controls. With a few clicks and switches the small automated guns located on the bottom of the hull let loose a barrage of laser blasts at the ships. Immediately the ships moved back, the lasers splashing against their shields in brilliant bursts of light.

The cables kept stretching further and further as the ships moved away. It was amazing how long they were. After a few moments they began to get tight and then started to pull. The Millennium Falcon lurched forward under the strain, throwing Han and Chewie back in their seats. Han repeatedly tried to manually aim for the cables. He landed a few blasts that only bounced off. The tow ships fired up their engines and rapidly picked up speed.

"The cables are magnetically shielded. Probably how they are attached to the hull. Looks like we're in for a ride", he said to Chewbacca.

Chewie did not respond, but kept looking out the window at the ships, trying to figure out who they were, and what they wanted.


	15. Chapter 15

Vader entered the large dark chamber quickly. He motioned his hand to one side and long shafts of light came on that lined the bottom of the walls, reflecting off the shine of the black floor and illuminating the room. In the center of the vast space was a large pit that went down several stories. There were no supports of any kind around the pit and no railing. The entire room was black gloss except for the very bottom of the pit, which was in total darkness.

Vader approached the pit slowly and knelt on a small platform on its edge. He knelt in silence and bowed his head low for several minutes. Soon the edges of the pit started to glow red and then a brilliant white flash lit the room, then died down to reveal the silhouette of a large figure filling the entire space of the pit at the center of the room.

"What is thy bidding, my master?" Vader said in a low voice without looking up.

"Greetings, Lord Vader" said a craggy voice creeping out of the large figure and echoing throughout the chamber.

The figure was growing brighter now. The light in the pit had shifted from a dark red to a slightly green glow. The Emperor's face could now be seen partially hidden under the large hood of a dark cloak. His sickly white chin was sharp and revealed his excessive age as it jabbed forward when he spoke.

"What have you to say to the failure of the weapon, Lord Vader?" the Emperor commanded in a booming voice.

"My master, it was the failure of Governor Tarkin to plan for the rebel counterattack. His mind was narrow." Vader spoke, still looking down.

"No!" the ghostly face grew fierce with anger. "It was the foul work of Jedi."

"But master, Kenobi was destroyed by my own hand. He was the last." Vader responded.

"You are so sure? He has a new apprentice, Vader- and Kenobi lives on with him." The old Emperor paused and leaned forward filling the pit with his darkened face. His voice continued in a slow creaky tone.

"His name is... Skywalker", the Emperor grinned as he said it revealing his hideously twisted blackened teeth.

Vader looked up for the first time. His mind raced and stopped immediately around the undeniable conclusion. He had known it all along, he just did not, or rather would not, piece it together.

"The son of Anakin", Vader said quietly.

"Yes! It seems your nemesis, the Jedi Skywalker, has a final move after all." The old pruned face laughed.

Vader thoughts drifted for a moment. He thought of his old friend, his mentor, his rival, Anakin Skywalker. The one Jedi who was always a step ahead of Vader. Only willing to share knowledge that was convenient to his own ambitions. Vader deceived Anakin to his ultimate doom. Vader took great pleasure in his annihilation. He was the greatest threat to Vader. He was the only one who could possibly defeat Vader, including the Emperor.

The mere existence of a son started a small creeping fear in the heart of Vader. This was something quite unexpected. It was the same feeling he always had while in the presence of Anakin. He worked very hard to destroy Anakin, and he would not allow his son to survive and become a threat. Vader suddenly realized he had the full focus of the Emperor on him. He quickly buried his thoughts and feelings, but the feelings about his old rival betrayed him.

"I sense fear in you, Lord Vader!" commanded the Emperor. "That is unfitting a Sith Lord. What have you to say for this?"

"The son of Skywalker will be destroyed, my master," replied Vader, bowing his head low again.

"Lord Vader- I want you to understand the gravity of the situation, beyond your trivial personal feelings," the Emperor retorted in a harsh tone. "This young man constitutes the largest threat to this Empire. This will be your only priority until he is captured or killed. Use whatever resources are available. You have this power going forward, under my authority. Do you understand, Vader?"

"Yes, my master", Vader replied. This one statement finally gave him the power he so desired. The zeal in his heart could not be contained and it caused him to tighten his fists.

The Emperor sensed his reaction, "There is no failure, Lord Vader."

"No, my master. It will be done," Vader answered.

The large figure of the Emperor leaned back and frowned on Vader. After a momentary flash he was gone. Vader stayed kneeling for a long pause. Then he rose quickly and walked long strides out of the room as the lights faded.


	16. Chapter 16

Luke hit the small button for the sub-light engines, jumped out of hyperspace, and immediately hit the scanners. There were no ships, no life, no sign of anything nearby. Another dead end. This was his tenth stop along the last route where the Millennium Falcon fell out of hyperspace. He checked his clocks again and realized the hour was late, and only getting later. He was overdue in getting to the rendezvous point. He knew they probably would not wait for him, and he would be assumed to be dead. That is what they were told, and he was running out of time.

He also knew he should leave now and give up the search. There was every reason to believe Han was fine. The ship had dropped out of lightspeed, but there was no reason to believe that the ship could not maneuver. It is also possible he ended up too close to a star and then it would be too late to help him anyway. Besides, he really barely knew Han, he just met him only days before, and obviously he has had a questionable past.

Still, there was something that drew Luke to Han. A feeling of brotherhood, fighting in the Death Star together and the escape as well. He trusted in Luke to man the guns of the Falcon. It was Luke's first taste of that sort of combat and he would never forget the camaraderie he felt with Han. That, and he definitely owed Han. If he had not come back Luke would have never made it that extra stretch down the trench along the Death Star's surface. He would have been destroyed like all of the rest, and the Rebellion would be over.

Luke also had a gut feeling that Han needed help. It was something he couldn't explain, but recent events have caused him to trust that gut instinct much more than he used to. So he switched on his navigation controls and plugged in the exact same jump trajectory. He would continue to look for Han until his fuel was spent. It was the least he could do for his new friend.


	17. Chapter 17

Leia Organa leaned against a small window in a side hallway in her royal command ship. She had a grand view of the gathering fleet from her quarters but she decided to stay on this side of the ship once the Millennium Falcon and Luke's X-Wing went overdue. This was where she would see any ships jump in from hyperspace. This was also where she would stay to hide from the generals who kept trying to get her opinion on how long to wait for late arrivals, and when to get the fleet underway to the next location. She knew they were vulnerable here, exposed to any large attacks the Empire would surely be mounting.

They had taken great pains to make sure this rendezvous location was kept secret, but anyone captured by the Empire would leave them at risk. The boldness of the last attack almost guaranteed that some of the dozen or so ships that are overdue would have been captured. It was only a matter of time until the Empire made its way here, and she knew it. Her thoughts drifted towards the Falcon. Where were they? Didn't Han make it out? She had no sensor data available after the attack and the escape. She thought Han was long gone when the Imperial bombers showed up, but now she wasn't so sure.

There was also the other, and in some ways more disturbing idea. Han simply took off. He had his small treasure. He had a bounty on his head, and it would be understandable if he went to take care of it. But before he left he clearly said to her that he was not going to do that, he would instead meet at the rendezvous point and make sure the rebels made it to a new base and got settled before he took off. She took him at his word, and so she waited.

At the far end of the dimly lit hallway an automatic door slid open with a loud whooshing sound. In walked C3-PO with his metal skin filling the long hallway with golden reflections from the lights above.

"Oh, here she is. I thought she went this way. Here she is, sir," he said as he turned and stepped aside.

An elderly gentlemen in a light tan military uniform passed Threepio and made his way down the narrow hallway and stood next to the princess.

"Hello general", Leia said to him with a faint smile.

"Princess, the fleet is ready for the next step. There are no more ships arriving. We must move forward to avoid detection," the old general said in a respectful tone.

"I know, general," the princess replied. "Have the rest of the council agreed?"

"Yes."

"Than so do I." She paused for a moment and took a breath as she straightened her posture. "You may begin the departure," she said calmly as she turned and gazed out of the small porthole.

The general walked off slowly without another word. Threepio made his way over to where the princess was standing.

"I beg your pardon Princess Leia, but did you happen to see if the R2 unit who was traveling with Master Skywalker, that is R2-D2, if he has arrived yet?"

"No, sorry. He has not," Leia replied.

"Oh, I see," Threepio said as he wandered by another window himself to look out towards the myriad of stars.

Leia did not move from her spot. A look of sadness slowly grew upon her face and stayed there as the engines of her ship could loudly be heard spinning up. She looked back at C3-PO. Suddenly her face lit up. She had an idea.


	18. Chapter 18

It was several hours before Chewbacca came back into the small cabin of Han Solo and shook the bunk that Han was in. He was slightly snoring in a deep sleep while twisted in an awkward position in his bunk. He jumped up and twirled around in one fast motion. He was facing Chewie with his blaster in his hand and blinking his eyes repeatedly to wake himself.

"Chewie! What is it?" Han said with a yawn while rubbing the blaster against the top of his ruffled hair.

"Raaargh Garrrgh Greeeegh!" Chewbacca replied.

"Okay, okay. I'm getting up," Han struggled to raise himself.

He stumbled forward and followed Chewbacca into the bridge. The ships were still far out ahead of them towing the Falcon along. There were many new ships surrounding them now, small fighters and pods of different sizes loosely assembled with rough metal patches and miscellaneous parts. Some ships were held together with rope and long strips of canvas. One of those moved in closer to the Falcon.

Han flipped on the bottom guns again and trained them on the closest ship. It had an open deck with several men in space suits manning long guns on top. They were each chained on board and each one struggled to stand as their craft jutted in and out of different oncoming ships. Han aimed at the group and thought he could easily take out the whole lot in a matter of seconds.

"Chewie, how are the shields?" Han asked.

"Naaahhhrgh."

"Oh" said Han as he switched off the guns and locked the controls over to one side. He could get several blasts off, but they wouldn't survive more than a few minutes of direct fire.

They were towed past a huge lime green gaseous planet with several moons under its very thick rings. After a while they pulled close to the edge of its dark side and right into the inner most ring. The ring was a huge expanse of large floating chucks of dark metal that glistened when the distant red sun struck it at odd angles. The tow ships navigated carefully between the large planetoids in a narrow path that zigzagged through the maze.

Finally they came upon a group of planetoids that had been assembled in a large spherical pattern. Each one was affixed with glowing pods that shot a constant stream of energy to pods on other planetoids, constructing a round grid. Inside the grid were many floating boulders of different sizes. They all had little structures on them with glowing lights. There were ropes everywhere. Men were seen pulling themselves along the ropes between the large rocks.

"It's some kind of shield," Han said looking at the massive structure as they approached.

Within a few minutes they were led through the shield and into a collection of large boulders, all fastened together with cables and ropes. There were small houses and huts everywhere supported by large wooden poles and rusted meal beams. The haphazard construction was surrounded by spaceships of all sizes which were docked by ropes and tethers. There were also small gun batteries on different floating boulders surrounding them.

Han looked closely and was surprised to see that there were men standing behind the large guns and they were not wearing any space suits at all. Some were dressed in loose clothing with large gold chains hanging the length of their pants fixed on either end. Others had the remains of various military uniforms that were ripped and tattered in different places, seemingly by design. Most of their heads were shaved or had hair cut in different odd angles with large tattoos covering the tops and sides of their heads. Some had gold and metal piercings across their face and necks.

Han leaned forward towards the glass as they passed a gun emplacement close by. He saw a man floating there in zero gravity readying a large turbo laser and aiming it at the Falcon. The man was wearing clothes very much the same as Han, same pants and boots. He had on a flightcap and goggles and a large unlit cigar jutted out of his mouth that he chomped on while he locked his feet onto the back of the gun turret.

"Oh, man- Chewie, I think I know that guy," Han said as he continued to stare at the man who put a large grin around his cigar and started to wave in a very sardonic manner.

"Okay, I definitely know that guy. These are pirates- all of 'em." Han paused as their ship was pulled in close to the largest dock with dozens of men waiting on the rock with guns and some with ropes to tie up the ship. "Not good," Han continued.

Chewie grunted as the communications panel lit up from an incoming hail.

"Yeah- sure, let's hear 'em" said Han as he waved a nonchalant hand to Chewie who switched the com panel.

"We wish to board. Do you comply peacefully?" said a strangely accented voice that crackled on a small speaker on the panel.

"Do we have a choice?" Han yelled loudly out to the room.

"Do you comply?" the voice repeated.

"Aww- nuts!" answered Han as he kicked the sidewall with his boot.

"Nuts?" said the voice.

"Who's in charge over there?" Han asked.

There was a pause on the other end, then some arguing could be heard in the background, "He said, uh, I think he said- nuts!"

"I said who's in charge?" Han yelled louder.

There was a loud bang from the bottom of the ship. Both Han and Chewie flew up and out of the cockpit. Sparks and smoke billowed up from the bottom hatch. Han drew his blaster and ran down the small hallway to see that the ramp that usually slowly descended was blown off of its hinges and it fell away it seconds. Long guns poked their way up through the smoke followed by the tattooed heads of pirates. One of them saw Han and his eyes widened as he let out a yell and fired.

Han sprang back and fired as he stepped towards the bridge. Chewbacca took out his bowcaster from behind Han and moved forward. He yelled out while taking a wookie warrior stance. He fired and bursts of energy flooded the cabin, causing explosions all around the hatchway. They stopped for a moment as the pirates disappeared. They could hear many men yelling below the opening.

"I wish there was a way out of this pal," Han said to Chewie as they moved back toward the hatch with guns drawn.

Chewie grunted slightly as he reloaded his crossbow weapon and took aim and knelt next to Han. Han crept up a little further and could see figures just beyond the hatch through the clearing smoke. Then someone darkened the hole and a half dozen little orbs came flying into the cabin and bounced all around.

"Gas!" Han yelled as he and Chewie ran back towards the bridge.

All of the orbs exploded and gaseous dark green smoke billowed and filled every crevice of the cabin. Han struggled to hold his breath and make his way towards the emergency air masks. He could barely see his hands in front of him when he was stopped. Sprawled out at his feet was his first mate, still gripping the crossbow weapon. Han's heart went out to him seeing him like that and he coughed. It was enough. The fumes penetrated in nostrils and burned down his throat. He gagged and coughed some more and went to his knees. In a second he was down next to his comrade.


	19. Chapter 19

Luke had a strange reading. It wasn't the Falcon, but it was the engine residue of several other ships, and they were recent. It was the first reading of any kind he encountered in his two dozen or so jumps along this trajectory. This was along the path where Han's ship would have fallen out of hyperspace and ended up, one of thousands to be sure, but the coincidence of ship activity here was too great for Luke to ignore. He followed the ship trails quickly before they dissipated.

It was Artoo who alerted Luke to a tiny outpost just at the edge of scanner range. It was on a small asteroid and Luke knew he was on to something. He maneuvered a path that put him well over and around the little outpost. He hit his engines for a final burst and drifted the rest of the way with all of the ships power off, including Artoo.

As his darkened ship drifted closer he could see the small ramshackle hut of the outpost with some dim green lighting inside. It had no windows but instead was open to space with only two side walls. There was a lone figure in a black spacesuit propped up against the side of one of the interior walls facing out the other way. Luke reached behind himself and fastened his spacesuit helmet on and locked it in place. He slowly twisted and pulled the manual release of his canopy. Instantly the air whooshed out into space and escaped as the canopy popped open and floated back.

Luke's X-Wing drifted closer to the outpost and he unhooked his safety harnesses. Just as his ship was passing below the boulder, he kicked himself out into space. Although he tried to minimize the speed of his ship's drift, he was still moving very fast. Within seconds he was soaring right towards the side wall of the outpost. He thought he would be crushed, or his helmet would crack open from the impact.

He put his hands out and braced himself as he was about to slam into the wall. Then he thought of the force. He closed his eyes and focused on the wall closing in. He could feel its mass fast approaching. He felt every crevice of the loose concrete and metal underneath. He could sense the rust on its surface, the crevices of millions of tiny stress fractures, the density of its interior, the heft and weight of it. Then he pushed against it using the force. He felt the distance between himself and the wall closing now, slowly. Easily and gradually he approached and, with the slightest touch, he landed softly against the wall. He wasn't exactly sure how he did it and he had to stop for a moment and collect himself.

He peered around the opening and into the outpost. Out of the window on the opposite side he could see his large X-Wing drifting past. The figure in the spacesuit did not move. Luke moved in. Lights and dials on long control panels started to beep and turn red for alarm as his X-Wing went through the sensors of the outpost. Luke quickly took out his blaster and grabbed the man in the black shiny spacesuit and turned him around. The man was asleep and was so startled by Luke that when he finally opened his eyes he screamed. Luke waved his arm while pointing the blaster at the man.

"Stop- wait. I don't want to hurt you," he spoke into the small radio broadcasting on all frequencies within a few feet of his spacesuit. "Do you understand? Can you hear me?" Luke continued.

The man nodded and raised his arms. He also slowly drifted back.

"I am looking for a ship, Corellian, white freighter, large- disc shaped. It has a man and a wookie on board. Have you seen that ship?"

"What? No- no ship," said the man in a strange accent as he reached back toward the control panel. Luke guessed he was trying to contact his people so he grabbed him and threw him towards the other side of the small room. He put the blaster right up against his helmet by his face.

"I know they went this way- tell me where they went!" Luke insisted.

"They went to base- but you will never make it! You should turn 'round and forget them. This is Legion space. If you know what is good, you will leave! We show no mercy!" The man said as he spun around quickly and grabbed a long laser rifle hung on a rack on the ceiling. He backed up and prepared to fire. He never had the chance.

Luke spun around as well while putting his blaster away and grabbing his lightsaber. He ignited it and sliced the long gun in two as the man raised it to fire. Sparks and pieces of the gun floated all around the small space. Luke raised the lightsaber to the man's neck and backed him up against the wall. He knew he would not get any further with the pirate. He also knew he couldn't leave him as he was, so he grabbed some loose cables nearby and threw them at the man.

"Tie this around one wrist and wrap it around the other," Luke said. The man grabbed the cable but did nothing. "Do it!" Luke repeated as he raised the lightsaber at the man's helmet, and the man complied. Luke wrapped his wrists a bit tighter and tied them off. He then pushed then man back into a chair in the corner of the room and, turning around, struck the console and control panels with his lightsaber. The panel exploded and went dead immediately. Luke hit a switch on his forearm. The X-Wing powered on and fired its engines. R2-D2 came on as well and squeaked in Luke's ear. The X-Wing came over and picked Luke up.

Luke made his way towards a distant energy source only Artoo could find, next to the largest planet in the system. It was the only energy source that could be a base, or at least it had to be a base. Somehow he knew it just had to be, and that's where he wound find Han. He set a course to get a little closer, but not too close to get discovered by an outpost such as he encountered. Instead he came up with another plan.

Luke kicked off of the cockpit seat and raised himself up and away from his ship. He took a long look at his trusty X-Wing as it dropped away below him. He had a feeling he wouldn't see it again. Artoo was already above him, trailing a long cable that passed close to Luke as he looked up.

"Okay, I'm clear. You can go ahead," Luke said into his helmet radio and with that Artoo opened side panels to let two side rockets spring out and fire on. Luke grabbed the line with both hands and held on tight as the little droid picked up speed and yanked Luke forward. Luke had instructed Artoo to circle in a wide arc all the way below what was hopefully the pirate base, and come up from below. Then he would figure out a way to get in, hopefully before Han and Chewbacca got into too much trouble.


	20. Chapter 20

Han heard the repeated pounding from a distance and tried to ignore it. He drifted back into the comfortable unconsciousness he was enjoying for the moment. But the relentless pounding would not go away, and however hard he tried, sooner or later he knew he would have to acknowledge it. The pounding was the pain in his head and it echoed throughout his entire skull. He suddenly gagged with the nausea resulting from whatever gas agent that had filled his ship. He began to realize from these physical symptoms that, much to his surprise, he was still very much alive. After several moments he slowly tried to open his eyes. The light was bright and overwhelming. His instinct was to shield them but he realized his arms were outstretched and locked in place.

"Cap'n! Cap'n! He's comin' to!" A voice yelled out next to Han. He raised his head slightly to see a blurred dark figure scurrying around him. Han tried to move but found not only his arms locked down but his legs as well.

"Wha- uhh," Han tried to speak but his throat was dry and nothing came out but raspy grunts.

"Water! Water for them both," commanded a voice from far off.

"Aye Sir," the nearby figure responded and cool water flooded into Han's mouth and splattered onto the floor.

"Chewie?" Han spoke out looking around. His vision was getting clearer.

The big wookie was sitting next to Han. His arms were in two thick iron clasps which did not fit over his large wrists, so they were further fastened by large chains and locks. His head was down with many thick chains and rusted locks around his neck. Chewie raised his head slightly towards Han, causing the chains to clink and move.

"Chewie," Han said mournfully. Han turned his attention to those around him and mustered as loud a voice as he could. "What do you people want?"

"Captain Solo!" Said the man who had spoken before from far across the room. Han tried to raise his head and focus but could not see him clearly. He was walking forward.

"How nice that you regained consciousness. We had our doubts. That much toxin has killed men before and we were worried- well some were worried," continued the man as he stepped closer with the thud of his boots echoing in the room, "I wasn't worried in the least. I knew you would pull through, just as you always have." The man came closer now and Han raised his head enough to see his face. He knew the man well.

"Antilles," Han said as he strained to lift his neck and face his former acquaintance.

The man was tall and wide, dressed in loose fitting and finely embroidered thick wraps of dark cloth. Wide leather belts held the wraps together across his waist and chest with large jewel encrusted gold buckles keeping them tight on the large man. He also had a unique hat made of some dark creatures skin that wrapped around his head and came to a point in the front just above his forehead. Long braided locks of dark hair fell from beneath his hat like dead snakes and were tied together behind his head

The man stepped away and Han was able to focus on the room behind him. It was the huge main deck of a luxury cruiser with beautifully crafted walls and ornately marbled floors, but they were cracked in half, the obvious result of a horrific crash which also left the room at a slight tilt The roof of the ship was completely sheered off in most places revealing the glorious site of the green gas giant above in its crescent phase, with floating planetoids drifting as far as Han could see. He wondered how the air was contained and then he remembered the shield they passed through to get into the base. He saw the edges of the shield beyond the roof and realized the vastness of it. Surrounding him on all sides of the room were creatures of differing types, but mostly men, pirates all. They were still arriving to watch the new curiosity, filling up the corners that were lit by some sort of gas fueled torches. The large man continued to speak to Han.

"It is such a pleasure to finally catch up to you again," Antilles said as he leaned towards Han and placed his red gloved hand very close to Han's face. "How long has it been, Captain Solo? Not long enough for you, eh?" he sneered as he poked and pushed along a small scare on the chin of Han, before grabbing his chin and pushing his head back. Han was able to push his chin up and keep his head in the same position.

"I remember that scar. Brings back memories."

"I see you have a new one," Han smiled a bit.

"Oh, you mean this?" Captain Antilles raised his right arm. His hand had been severed, and in its place was the large wide barrel of a gun. It was attached to his forearm. "This turned out to be a blessing, I lost this hand thanks to your beloved Hutts!"

"I have money," Han said coldly as he glanced over to Chewie who had his head down.

"Yes, we found some nicely arranged in your cabin," Antilles said as he waved his arm towards a pile boxes set aside. It was some of the reward Han had been given by the Princess just days before.

"I can get you more, if you let us go," Han said.

"Right, let you go. And you feel you are in a good position to bargain?"

"If you want the rest- twice that much, I can get it. Just let us go," Han continued.

"You mean maybe it's hidden somewhere on your ship? Perhaps in some secret sealed compartment?" Antilles smiled and looked around. There were some laughs as several more men were filling the large room now to watch the exchange between Han and the Captain.

"Mister Conjo?" said Captain Antilles over his shoulder to the rear of the room.

"Aye, Capn'" said the large creature who had found the Falcon adrift in space. He waddled into the room amid some sneers and hisses among the men gathered around. He looked back at them in disgust, but turned back and couldn't help but smile. He was the one who had claim to whatever bounty the good Captain would offer, and he was hoping it was large. Behind him was a long thin pirate with rolled up sleeves attached to a tattered and dirty shirt, revealing tattoos in some obscure language up and down his arms. He was struggling to pull a rusted metal cart loaded with the rest of the reward. One of the boxes was smashed open, with some gold coins sprinkled across the cart.

"Our good Mister Conjo here found this derelict ship and secured its capture, and its booty! He is to be commended for this by the Legion." There were more hisses and even some boos and general disgust among the crowd. Antilles stomped a boot. "Now, now! None of that! He has made up for his shortcomings, and as such, I decree and bestow upon him the return to the rank of Captain, which he will assume immediately as master of this ship, this, eh, Millie- uh, Millennium Falcon, right, that was it, wasn't it." Antilles smiled broadly at Han Solo as he spoke. "We will, of course, have to come up with a new Legion name- perhaps the _Scurvy_. I think that fits quite nicely." That drew some hearty laughter from some of the pirates. Antilles was waiting for a reaction from Han, but Han had not looked away from the cart of his reward money.

He felt a pit in his stomach that sank when he saw the smashed canister. He really didn't think they would find those compartments. He felt somehow he was going to bring that to Jabba, clear his debts, start fresh. Things were looking dark now. He quickly counted up the total bounty, just out of habit, and came up with an interesting tally.

"You're missing two crates, Antilles. Maybe your people aren't as trustworthy as you think." Han was now much more awake and alert and glaring at his captors.

Captain Antilles paused and looked at his men. He motioned to a few in the back of the room.

"Take another look over that cargo hold. Look for anything else!" he bellowed. Two young men with neatly shaved heads in bizarre designs nodded and quickly made their way out of the room.

"You are one to talk of trust, Solo!" Antilles continued now, talking loudly to the rest of the room. "This man was once a member of The Brotherhood, that was the predecessor to our Legion."

"The Legion?" Han raised his eyebrows.

"It's the Legion Antilles, scum!" yelled a short portly man from the side of the room. He approached Han and went to hit him across the side of his head. Chewbacca yelled fiercely and the small man flew back with just a glancing blow while tripping over his own feet. The rest of the men gathered in the room burst out in rambunctious laughter.

"Legion Antilles?" Han yelled out to the room in a surprisingly commanding voice and instantly they all went quiet. "Did he promise you treasure and bounty and then take all of it? Did he steal everything for himself yet?"

"Stealing! Let's talk of stealing!" the pirate captain boomed back and walked the room. "This man was a brother, yet somehow a ship loaded with trillium, worth more in one shipment than we've ever seen before or since- that ship gets destroyed, with him on board!" Antilles raised his hand up high. "A terrible loss for The Brotherhood. Then, strange enough, the Hutts start selling trillium to the highest bidder-" Antilles pounded his cannon of an arm into a nearby pillar, "-my trillium! And low and behold, we hear the sad tale of a smuggler running weapons for the Hutts who gets boarded by the Imps, smuggling guns across _our_ territory. Now the Hutts put a huge bounty over the head of that most unlucky, poor soul." Antilles stomped his boots and waved his gun arm over Han's head, getting the most theatrics out of his story.

"And who is this wanted man? Why none other than the traitor you see before you. Someone who sold out The Brotherhood to save his own skin!" Antilles walked around and rubbed the top of Han's head furiously pushing it down. "Who's going to save that skin now, eh Solo?" Antilles laughed and the rest of the men followed suit. Han kept his head raised and looked out the large cracked and broken side windows towards the stars beyond, wishing perhaps there might be someone out there who would.


	21. Chapter 21

Luke checked his gauges again. He was past the half way point, and there was no way to make it back to his ship now without using up all of his air. This had been a leap of faith, literally, the moment he jumped out of the cockpit of his X-Wing. He was relying heavily on his gut feelings now, and so far they were right, but now his very life was at stake. He held tight on the thin tow cable as his trusty R2 unit adjusted their course.

Filling the view above him was the lime green gas giant. Its thin rings sparkled from the millions of planetoids that filled them. It was a site Luke wished he could just enjoy for a few minutes. But his thoughts always focused on his friends. He knew they were in peril, and he couldn't wait to get there and do something about it. He thought of a plan of attack, but he had no idea what kind of a place he was going to.

After a while he could see other small specks drifting and lighting up around one portion of the rings. They were ships, no doubt. He filled with hope again. Ships moving about almost certainly meant he was close to the base. He steadied himself with the tow cable and raised a small visual scanner to his helmet. He could barely make out the small ships, but there were several. He couldn't see anything that might be the Falcon, but he was still too far away.

'"Artoo- I know you see those ships on your scanner" Luke said into his small headset.

Artoo bleeped some messages that showed up on a small readout on Luke's forearm.

"Right- do your best to come in right in between any outer defensive positions, and cut your rockets when we get in their scanner range. Got it?"

Artoo acknowledge and adjusted course slightly to bring them in.

Luke checked his blaster, hooks and gear on his belt. Then he made sure his lightsaber was secure and at the ready. Strangely, as soon as he did so a calm settled on him, as if he didn't need anything else. After a moment he checked everything again just the same.


	22. Chapter 22

This time Han Solo could not sleep. He and Chewbacca had been moved from their torturous positions in the middle of the large hall to a small empty side cell. It seemed there was a discussion on what to do with Han and Chewie, and the pirates didn't want the two in the room at the time. The two were still in chains, linked together. They were sitting in the corner of the room when a series of loud clinks unlocked the main door. A woman with a tray squeezed past a large pirate who was guarding the door. She had blond hair that was tucked beneath a hood that covered most of her face. She had a severe limp which she managed slowly. She placed the small tray in front of Han and Chewie very carefully so as not to spill the small cups of water. Between the cups was a bowl of yellow mush.

"Compliments of the Captain," the woman spoke while looking down to the floor. She rose up to leave. Han grabbed her slender wrist.

"Wait-" Han said. The guard took a step into the room and Han let her wrist go.

"Can you just tell us what's going on out there?" Han continued, referring to the occasional raised voices and arguments he could hear.

"Captain Antilles is a good man, a righteous man. That is why you might be tried, and they are discussing this," the woman responded in a firm tone.

"Right- sure." Han pushed the tray back a bit.

"The Captain has given you food because he is a gracious leader. He said it will be your last meal, so you should think about eating it. Good day." The woman stood up and walked out with the guard slamming the door shut behind her.

"You believe that joker," Han said to Chewie. "You don't know him. Believe me, Chewie, he's a real prince. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a plan to sell me to Jabba himself, and pocket the bounty. That's the only reason we are still alive." Han stood up, still chained to Chewie. "I don't know how we are going to get out of this one, buddy," Han said softly.

Chewie grunted slightly as he was eating from the bowl of mush. After a few mouthfuls he turned to Han and let out a long inquisitive grunt.

"No- go ahead. I'm not hungry," Han said as he sat down again and kicked one foot out and rested his arm on his other knee. Chewie let out a gratifying grunt and instantly swallowed the remaining contents of the bowl.

The locks on the door clinked again and the door slid open. In came three large pirates.

"Up on your feet, dogs!" said the closest one. "It's judgment time. Let's go!" He motioned a long sword out to Han and Chewie. The two slowly got up and walked, dragging their thick chains along the floor. One of the rear guards tried to push Chewbacca along, but Chewie quickly turned and growled the man back a few steps.

They entered the hall again and the room was now completely full of pirates. The edges of the demolished open roof were lined with them. Cheers went up as Han and Chewie were escorted to the center of the room. Han noticed some pirates were even floating out beyond the broken roof above to get a better view, hanging beyond the gravity field by ropes and cables.

They were told to face forward. At the head of the room was a newly placed large wooden desk, ornately carved with thick engraved images of ancient starship battles. Behind it, with his large boots on the desk, was sitting Captain Antilles. He was surrounded by petite women wrapped in loose cloths who were bringing him food and drink. The thin pirate who had carted in Han's money sat next to Antilles with a large scroll and a small piece of charcoal. He was busily scratching down notes of the events. When Han saw this he mused to himself how much of a show this really was.

"Now then", Antilles stood up and bellowed out to the crowd. "Order! Order I say!" He paused to wait for the cheering to stop, which abruptly it did. "Here we have one _Han Solo_, and his first mate, the wookie _Choo-Buh-kay_" the Captain struggled to read a small ripped sheet from an old ship log of the Falcon.

"It's Chew-bac-ca." Han said slowly, emphasizing the pronunciation.

Antilles banged the desk with his gun arm. "The prisoners cannot speak!" Antilles yelled and motioned with his gun hand to one of the guards next to Han who promptly pounded the handle of his long sword into Han's side, causing him to double over.

"Just get on with it already, Antilles," Han said while letting out a slow groan.

"Quite right, very well then," the captain stood up and walked around to the front of the desk to stand next to Han and Chewie. "The two before us are charged with the most egregious crime any of us can commit, namely- stealing from his brothers!" Huge roars erupted from the unruly group. "And, this one here," Antilles pointed his large barreled gun arm right at Han's face. "He was a brother! Believe it or not- this miscreant was a pirate, and a good one. But somehow he managed to stray and betray us- to betray _you_, to our enemy- the Hutts!" Antilles yelled out the last word and the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

"Kill 'em!"

"Hang that scurvy scum from the highest yard arm!"

"Quarter him! Pull him to pieces!"

The captain stopped suddenly and looked over towards the man who made that last remark.

"Quarter him- Aye, we haven't seen that in ages!" Antilles beamed. "Now that is proper judgment!" The men in the crowd roared with approval.

Han looked around trying to see who came up with that wonderful suggestion with no luck. Then he turned toward Antilles. "You're quite the showman, Antilles. How about we move this along?"

Antilles grinned and continued to speak to the crowd. "Then let's have it. In keeping with our usual efforts towards accord and legality, we will have a vote. All those in favor- say aye!"

"Aye!" was the huge response among most of the hall.

"Those opposed?" Antilles responded.

"Wait-" one man yelled out.

"The ayes have it!" Antilles boomed out as he slammed his gun barrel arm down onto the huge wooden desk and sat down.

"The man has a right to speak to his ways!" A man walked up and stood by the side of the desk. It was the man with the flight cap and cigar Han had recognized on the way in. Other than Antilles, he was the only one he had seen here that was around during his short stint with The Brotherhood. He didn't know him all that well, in fact he couldn't even remember his name.

"Now Mister Grillo! You have no right!" the Captain yelled out emphatically, and was visibly upset. "Are you opposed?"

"No- I-" the tall man had his flight cap removed to reveal large tentacle tattoos encircling his head and ending at the rear in a giant squid. He grabbed the half smoked cigar out of his mouth and jabbed the back end into the air as he spoke to emphasize his points. "I knew this man. He was a pirate- a damn good pirate at that." The man looked at Han briefly and then the rest of the room. "I'm sure he had his reasons. Whatever they were, I for one would like to hear 'em!"

"Here, here!" A few yells went out in agreement from some in the crowd.

Antilles banged his gun arm down again. "There was a vote! A vote is final! That is that!" A chorus of cheers went up from the rest of the gathered brigands.

Grillo turned toward the crowd and with a grimace, threw his cigar towards the rear of the room. Then he shook his head and walked back to the side.

"Han Solo, and first mate- Chew-bah-kay, accomplice after the fact, I sentence both of you to be drawn amid ships and quartered and left for dead. Your remains are to be affixed to the side of a planetoid in the vacuum of space for display, lest anyone else have the same notions of betrayal to this Legion. This sentence is final, under law, and to be carried out forthwith!"

Antilles banged his gun arm down three times.

"This high court is adjourned!" Antilles said as he sat back down and plodded his boots back up onto the large desk. "Mister Crebbs!" Antilles yelled out.

The skinny pirate with the rolled up sleeves and long tattoos stepped forward.

"Aye Cap'n" he groaned behind some scraggy protruding teeth.

"Secure four volunteers from the gathered host to have the honor of pulling our dear guests to pieces." The captain motioned his gloved hand nonchalantly to the crowd.

Crebbs turned towards them with a slightly dumbfounded look as dozens of pirates stepped up to volunteer their own ship for the job. Han turned towards Chewie and tugged at his chains a bit. He was trying to think of a way out of this when he noticed there was a very short fat man dressed in colorful pieces of robes and layers of spectacles across the top of his head running down one of the side hallways. He burst into the hall and ran directly to the captain's desk.

"Capn', Capn'- sir, we've got a breach, sir." the man said half out of breath.

"Simmons, what are you blabbering on about?" Antilles retorted.

"There was a fight, on the far side. Our ships detected a vessel. When they engaged- it was some sort of huge droid- a monster of a thing with a huge red eye and long tentacles. They reported that it fought back and then self destructed- but not before it transmitted something."

"Probe droid. Transmitted what exactly?" Antilles' face turned to a scowl.

"Well, sir, they don't know. The pieces they intercepted, said somethin' bout 'need of assistance' or some such thing," the man said. Then he leaned towards Antilles and kept his voice very low, causing Antilles to wince at his fetid breath as it drifted over him. "And the data they pieced together, it looked a bit like, well a bit Imperial in nature, sir, if you get what I'm meanin', Capn?" His eyes shot around behind the bulging glass of his large glasses as he made sure there were no pirates within ear shot and continued, "Sir, it was well within scanning range of us- of us here, sir," the man raised his eyebrows and backed up a bit. "Like, here, sir!" he whispered breathlessly.

"What are you saying? That the Empire has a fix on this base!" the captain yelled out causing a quick stir among the crowd. "And what makes you think they would even care, even if they scanned us? What theories do those miscreants on watch have to say on that?" Antilles exclaimed and silence gripped the room.

The little man took a couple of steps back, nervously looked around the room, and simply shook his head back at the captain, Antilles stood up and paced for a moment, then turned and leaned with his gun arm on the large desk. He peered over at Han and Chewie. Han was looking at the floor, trying to conceal a slight smile that started to show in the corners of his mouth.

"Solo?" Antilles approached him. "What sort of trouble were you in out there?"

"More than you," Han responded.

"Hah!" the captain leaned back and ran the edge of his gun arm along the brim of his hat, pushed it up slightly and took a long look at Han. "You've got the luck of a two-headed gwanamonster, you know that?"

"You call this lucky?" Han answered holding up his chained hands.

"Get these two back inside, and lock 'em up good. We might need 'em for bait later." Antilles slammed his gun arm again and started to bark out orders.

"Get extra detail on our perimeter. I want the ships of the line spread out so thick that nobody can cross. No lousy Imps are gettin' near this base- ya hear me!" he yelled sternly to his men. Some began to run out of the room. "Dust off the siege plans and get 'em over here- and bring me a friggin' drink!"

"Sir, we have also lost contact- lost communications that is- with outpost Gabriel- sir, on the lower elliptical. I meant to tell you that earlier, sir," the thin pirate, Crebbs, came forward and stammered badly to get this bit of news to Antilles.

"Oh- is that all? So we are blind on the downward approach?" Antilles stepped towards the man. "The same route that they took in Solo, here? Do you like that coincidence? Eh? He shows up and the Empire starts probing about- and we just happen to lose an outpost!" Antilles grabbed the thin man and threw him back into a wall.

"Get one of your pod runts sleeping on watch and get over there to see whats going on!" He yelled to another pirate who seemed to be a decorated officer, who then reluctantly nodded and walked away.

"Solo!" Antilles yelled as Han was being led back to his cell. Han did not turn his head. "I want answers Solo! As soon as I am done here, I'm going to get 'em!"

"Is that before or after you pull me to pieces?" Han yelled out as he was still walking away from Antilles. The captain stared and shook his head as the guards continued to take Han and Chewie out of the room.


	23. Chapter 23

Luke had guessed right. There were a couple of astrodroids scattered around and one more didn't seem to draw any suspicion. Artoo was able to get passed quite a few pirates and right on board the Millennium Falcon. Luke waited patiently in the middle of a nearby supply depot. From his vantage point he could see many of the ships that were docked at the base. He could also see large generators that powered the massive shield that he and Artoo had passed through to get in. They had traveled into the center of the shield hoping for a soft spot but soon realized the shield was not built to keep an enemy out, but to keep air in. They passed through easily and were small enough to go undetected.

The Falcon was easy to spot docked on the underside of this large planetoid. He didn't have as much luck finding Han. Artoo radioed back that Han and Chewie were nowhere to be found. As Luke waited for the droid to return and calculate his next move he saw a flurry of activity. Pirates were running all around the small port. Six at a time were carrying huge laser cannons that they were mounting on ships of all sizes. Others were running supplies into the ships. There were men climbing long ropes to the tops of tall weapons towers that most of the ships had on their decks. Lines of pirates were singing in haughty tones while lifting lines of supplies, using the tempo to time their pulls and keep them in unison.

Loud horns sounded from one of the vessels as a huge roar went up from all of the men on the docks. The vessel was a streamlined cutter with many makeshift cannons protruding out from all sides. It barreled its way out of the dock and drifted over everyone while continuously blasting its loud horns while some pirates on board started to fire guns into the air. It drifted towards Luke, who had to duck low and hide as it skirted right over him. There was a fat pirate with a long dark braided beard who was hanging off the side by some ropes and calling out.

"First one off the blocks again! How about that Grillo!" he yelled over Luke.

"Aye! And first up for last call!" yelled back a man Luke didn't see before. He was just beyond the edge of the supply depot where Luke was hiding. He had a tattooed arm raised next to his flight cap with a hand twisting back in a drinking motion that caused the man on the ship to throw his arms up in laughter as his ship drifted further away. Its engines flamed and roared, drowning out his laughter as it sped away. The pirate near Luke walked along the edge of the depot while drawing out a new cigar. He stopped just a few feet from Luke who was crouching behind some crates.

"Ya must think I'm blind- or just a fool." He spoke out loudly with his back to Luke as he lit his cigar and puffed out the smoke in quick breaths. "I know every rope, every crate, and definitely every droid on my dock," he blew some smoke straight up into the air and it drifted back over Luke. Luke raised to one knee as his mind raced on what to do next.

"Now, you are either a spy, a thief, or a friend of Captain Solo," the man continued. Luke held his breath as the man spoke. "And if it be the last- well, you can count me one as well." Luke raised his head a bit and caught the man tilting his head slightly back to him. Luke noticed he wore some of the same clothing as Han, with pants that had that same yellow stripe on the sides. The man continued, "I think he's gettin' run through. The man's not even gettin' a chance to have his say. That ain't right. He was a good pirate when I knew him, and he deserves as much from the brothers. He's saved my backside at least once that I can recall, and I figure I owe him one." The man turned completely towards Luke and continued louder, "So what's it then?"

"I owe him one too," Luke spoke in a low voice.

"Alright then," he replied with a smirk as he turned back around and faced the other ships that were preparing to launch. "The name's Grillo."

"Luke."

"Well Luke, I'm gonna get you over to where he is, but you're gettin' him out. There's good men here, and I'm not one to be throwin' down against all of 'em."

"You might not have a choice," Luke responded firmly. "Han's going to need a way back to his ship. The Empire is hunting us. They might already be on their way. We've got to get out of here fast!"

Mister Grillo stood for a long moment smoking his cigar looking around the active dock, then he added, "The Empire's hunting Solo? And we lock him up for no good reason. Damn that Antilles. I knew somehow he'd be the ruin of us."


	24. Chapter 24

Vader waded through various reports. They were from the hundreds of probes that were sent out. The last transmission of the beacon on the Millennium Falcon was hard to pin down before they suddenly lost contact. He knew that when he had found something significant the force would tell him. It was something the Jedi did not use well, but the Sith were experts at. Listening for the echoes of the future was a mainstay to the subterfuge of the Sith, and gave them advantages over everybody else. So when the small communications device blipped on Vader's console he was not overly surprised. He activated the small hologram projector and the image of the commander of the star destroyer came up. Vader knew he had very good news.

"Lord Vader," he said, "we have a probe that returned some preliminary findings of a base, unfortunately the probe was discovered and destroyed itself before we could get further readings. It is in the Vorullo system. There were several ships with heavy weaponry. There are not enough for it to be the rebels, but we believe one of the ships there could be the Millennium Falcon, sir."

Vader leaned forward and looked over the report as it popped up on another screen. He focused on a small fuzzy disc that was mixed in with other vessels on a large planetoid and he listened to the force.

"That is it, commander. Assemble the invasion force. I want an overwhelming assault. I want shock troops on that ship seconds after we arrive. There is no room for error. Is that understood commander?"

"Yes, Lord Vader. Plans are already underway."

The hologram flared up and went off. Vader was pleased. It had not been that long since their escape and, rebel fleet or not, Vader had a feeling Skywalker was near that ship.


	25. Chapter 25

Han had been waiting with Chewbacca in the darkened cell and he was listening to the commotion of the pirate leadership as they planned to repel a possible attack. He kept pulling at his large shackles that were now cutting into his wrists with no give at all. He had never felt so frustrated in his life. He was relieved to get out of this cell when he was put on trial. At least something was happening, but now he was just a prisoner again.

He sat down and leaned his head back against the iron wall and tried to think of his next move. No ideas were coming when he felt an odd sensation. The wall was beginning to vibrate. He placed his ear up to the cold metal and heard strange squeaks. An instant later a spot just above his head turned a bright orange and began to sizzle out and turn to a bright burst of sparks and smoke. Han jumped back just in time as the long bright blue blade of a lightsaber burst through the wall and moved slowly down to where he was just sitting. He laughed aloud and hit Chewbacca who had fallen asleep next to him.

"C'mon, ya big mook! Wake up! It's Luke!" Han said excitedly pointing to the bright shaft coming through the wall, which was now illuminating the room. Sparks flew everywhere while some of the metal dripped down and sizzled onto the floor leaving a strong burnt metallic smell. "Brother, I gotta get me one of those," Han spoke softly to Chewie. After a moment the lightsaber drew back beyond the wall.

"Han? Han, you in there?" Luke's voice had never sounded so good. Han ran and pushed his face up to the newly created gap in the metal wall.

"Hey Kid! Am I glad to see you! How did you find us?" Han asked excitedly,

"I had some help from an old friend of yours," Luke answered. "Now step back, and let's get you out of there."

Luke continued to cut a path through the metal inch by inch. After a few seconds, the lightsaber grew unbearably hot. The heat even penetrated his pilot's gloves and began to radiate from the molten metal along the wall. He struggled to keep the beam steady and keep it strong. The more he focused the tighter the beam became. He had to rely on the force to get the beam as tight as he could make it, but he was struggling. He closed his eyes and thought of Ben, of the first time he held this lightsaber in Ben's house on Tattooine. The next time during his short training on the Falcon. It was an extension of his arms, and he could actually _feel_ it cutting through the metal. He could feel the solid steel structure of the wall giving way to the power of the force.

When he opened his eyes the lightsaber was focused and the metal melted away as he quickly moved to open a hole down to the floor. When he reached the bottom he was careful to try to leave some remaining to prevent the large chunk of metal from crashing down and keep things quiet. Despite how Luke tried, the weight of the piece buckled down under its own weight and it cracked and slammed into the cell with a giant clang.

Luke quickly bent his head through the hole in time to see the far door swinging wide open. As Han and Chewbacca backed away, a large pirate came charging in swinging a long sword while drawing his pistol. He quickly aimed and fired at Luke, who was able to dive out of the way. With his lightsaber before him, he ducked his head, yelled out and rushed through the hole and charged the pirate.

Han was already doing battle. He was swinging his chains and trying to wrap them around the huge man's head to no avail. Chewie was chained much closer to the wall and could not get close enough to help at all. He growled loudly as he pulled at his chains that did not give way. Luke came in and was about to strike the man down when the pirate grimaced and yelled in pain and fell down at Luke's feet. Behind him stood Mister Grillo with a long stick that had large arcs of streaming blue streams of electricity encircling around its top.

"That'll put him out for a while," Grillo stood taller and smiled. "Well Han, it's good to finally have a proper reunion."

"You can say that again. It's Chase, right?" Han asked the man.

"That's right, Chase Grillo," he answered as he shook Han's hand. He had to further reach because of the shackles. "I haven't heard the name Chase since you were here, before Antilles started calling the shots."

"Those were better days," Han said as he raised his bound wrists up a bit.

"You said it, brother. Much better days." Grillo answered.

"I think I can take care of that," Luke motioned to Han's chains as he stepped up and ignited his lightsaber.

"Hold on kid- now be careful," Han said as he lurched his body back and stuck out his chained arms forward.

"Don't worry, just hold still," Luke said as he nervously steadied himself and tried to focus on striking just the shackles. He took a few slow practice swings causing the lightsaber to buzz loudly and singe the dust hanging in the air.

Han looked at the size of the blade and the tightness of the shackles around his already sore wrists and decided it was best to just look away. Luke knew the best way to do this was fast. He raised the lightsaber high above him for a sweeping down cut. Unfortunately, the saber struck a long lighting fixture that was hanging down, throwing sparks and debris all over the cell. Luke backed away as the broken light, with its burning edges, dropped down and swung violently on its wires. As Luke brought the lightsaber back, it swung dangerously close to Chewbacca's head. Chewie had to duck down and he growled loudly at Luke.

"Hey! Will ya' watch where you're swinging that thing!" Han yelled out.

"Sorry- I'm still getting the hang of it."

"No kidding," Han replied.

"Gentlemen," said Grillo who was crouching over the knocked out guard. "Let's say we do this the easy way." He stood up and produced a very large key. Luke and Han looked at each other and laughed in relief.

They exited the rear of the cell through the hole and found their way outside. Above them the huge gas giant filled in any shadows left by the bright sun with a greenish glow. They were standing on a large flattened planetoid, but it was small enough that one could see all of its edges. They could see some pirates who went to the edge and just walked right over to the other side, relying on the artificial gravity to field hold them down. Some were going to the edge and simply kicking off and floating straight up, grabbing ropes that were dangling from nearby rocks and pulling themselves along. A few jumped so fast that they didn't need ropes, and they were jumping from one rock to the other.

Luke looked at the some of the shields that held all of the air in and noticed that the main power and gravity field generators were ray shielded, but even so, the entire setup seemed very vulnerable. This was something he would have to keep in mind if they became desperate and needed a way to destroy many pirates at once. That idea seemed so wrong to Luke that he dismissed it from his thoughts.

"Gents," said Mister Grillo as he stood near the hole to the cell, "this is as far as I am gonna go. Just keep to the edge and head over the side to get to the docks and your ship. You boys are on your own." He leaned forward and handed large guns to Han and Chewie. " If the Imps are comin', like you say, then I've got to defend the base as best I can." Grillo stood and looked around. "It's not much, but it's home to me."

"Okay, but you might have better luck coming with us," Han replied.

"Thanks Solo. Consider us even?"

"Alright," Han said as he extended and shook Grillo's hand. "Good luck."

"Luck? You're the ones who are going to need luck," Grillo said as they parted ways.

Han, Luke, and Chewie quickly made their way between structures and tried to stay out of sight as they reached the edge of the oblong planetoid. They peered over to see the large dock on the under side. There was tremendous activity below, and it was clear why they weren't spotted yet. Most of the pirates were there, running around on the docks and manning hundreds of ships of all sizes. In the middle of all of the ships was docked the Millennium Falcon. There were a couple of droids loading supplies into the ship and Luke noticed that one of them was none other than R2-D2, who was obviously put right to work in his absence. They thought for a moment on what do to. Han sized up the pirates and Luke had an idea.

"We need a diversion," Luke said as he pointed to the supply depot where he had been hiding earlier. "I think I can get back over there, and there might be some weapons, or ordinance-" but before Luke could finish the thought Han had already jumped over the edge and was running full speed in a straight line towards the Falcon. Chewie, who was listening intently to Luke, saw this and turned to Luke to let out a few nodding grunts before he too jumped over and did his best to catch up to Han. Luke was dumbfounded for a second, but he too jumped out and readied his blaster.

Han was focused on reaching his Falcon as quickly possible. He trained his blaster on pirates who didn't notice him at first. Some even looked twice as he ran past, and most didn't think much of the stranger. It wasn't until Chewbacca thundered past that some yells started to go up. By the time Luke was running through any surprise was gone. Luke got off a few shots sending the pirates for cover. Some larger brazen ones stepped in front of Luke and drew their long metal swords to cut him down. Luke flew to one side and traded his blaster for lightsaber. In a flash he ignited the sword and spun and swung his Jedi weapon right through oncoming blades, splitting them easily and sending molten metal spilling all over.

Han was now shooting his way forward as well. Pirates were jumping out of their ships as shouts went out for all hands. Han was darting in and out of supply piles gathered along the dockside. Chewie caught up to him and they both were pinned down behind some crates half way to the Falcon from an onslaught of pirate laser fire. By the time Luke arrived several gun blasts narrowly missed them from above. A couple of the pirate ships that had just left the port had turned around and were heading back in to deal with the escapees. It was clear who was giving all of the orders when Captain Antilles could be heard yelling from a distance near the front of the docks.

"Breakout! It's a breakout! Blast the mongrels! Bring me Solo dead and his loot is yours!"

The last statement by Antilles drew a roar of approval as pirates began to leap from the ships over head. Others were diving in from nearby planetoids and barges, guns blazing and swords in hand. Han and company ducked behind the cargo as best they could but they were running out of cover fast. Han turned around and took a shot at Antilles that knocked the pirate's hat clean off and sent him scurrying for cover. Han eyed his own ship which seemed miles away now. He turned to Luke.

"What were you saying back there, kid. I got caught up when I saw the Falcon again," Han yelled out.

"Right- sure. I don't think it matters now, but thanks for asking!" Luke yelled back as he kept firing at men running to surround them.

Then a huge explosion shook the entire dock. Men on all sides left their feet and many were thrown up and out of the gravity field, flying up and out of sight. Han, Luke and Chewie grabbed hold of the cargo around them as another huge explosion rocked the planetoid. It was coming from the other side of the planetoid, the top side where the base's headquarters was, and where Luke and company had just left. The edges of the planetoid turned orange with flame. Fire and smoke flowed around the edges. The pirates who were shooting had now run for cover as flaming debris from what was left of the base's main building began to stream across in all directions.

Flashes of light lit up the dock from above as huge ships began to jump in from hyperspace right outside the pirate's air shield. They were Imperial battle cruisers and they were launching dozens of shining white personnel battlepods. These were long tube-like vessels that were packed full of shock-troopers, the elite commando stormtroopers that were used to being dropped into warzones, ready to fight.

The battlepods were coming in through the air shield everywhere. As soon as they were inside the base the sides of he pods exploded out and dozens of Imperial shocktroopers in all black uniforms leaped out with laser rifles in hand. They landed on the dock by the hundreds, shooting at the pirates in all directions. Some had gathered near the Millennium Falcon and were charging forward in formation to surround the ship. They turned and formed defensive stances around the Falcon, cutting off the three rebels from their escape.

"Stormtoopers- in black now," Han leaned next to Luke as they peered from behind the cargo, "Man, I am really starting to hate those guys."

Just then massive cannon fire erupted from high up, directed onto all of the troopers, The largest ship on the docks slowly rose high up and turned broadsides. It was a majestic clipper ship with rows of high flowing sails and turrets that were full of pirates armed with small weapons. They were all shooting randomly at anything that moved. Hundreds of side panels on the main body of the ship were lifted up and long cannons protruded out. Standing on the railing at the bow of the mighty ship was Captain Antilles. This was his flagship, _Venturous_, and he was proud to be able to show off her guns. He was holding tight with one arm onto some rigging just above a beautifully carved siren goddess that leaned out at the front mast of the ship. He was pointing his gun of an arm out towards the dock and blasting it.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Antilles yelled out repeatedly and all of the long laser cannons came alive and set forth a wide barrage of brilliant energy onto everything and everybody along the surface of the docks. Most of the shocktroopers surrounding the Falcon were caught in the open and disappeared in blasts of raw energy.

Chewbacca dove on top of both Han and Luke behind the small group of supply crates that was their cover. The front crates exploded and shattered to bits. The blast was so loud and so close to Luke that he momentarily lost his hearing in one ear while the other was ringing loudly. He went down on his side to try to recover. Chewie grabbed him and pulled him up and to get him back on his feet, and he could see why.

Han had bounded up and out of his position. He was yelling out and rushing towards his ship. He fired as he went, taking out several remaining troopers who didn't see him before. More Imperial pods were dropping in from above, exploding their doors and raining down white uniformed stormtroopers everywhere. Han was firing as fast as he could while dodging the onslaught of laser fire. He dove behind two small fighters docked next to the Falcon and was quickly surrounded by troopers. Luke and Chewie were far behind and running to catch up. A battalion of stormtroopers turned to face both of them. Luke instinctively put his blaster down. He calmly took a breath and reached for his lightsaber.


	26. Chapter 26

The large clipper ship was taking heavy fire from the newly deposited stormtroopers. Captain Antilles ordered his gunnery to take aim at the pods as they streamed in to stem the tide. His ship was close to the edge of the air shield and one side could fire on the pods as they entered the air space while the other picked off stormtroopers below. They managed to destroy a few pods and they actually struck another one before it breached the outer shield.

That pod exploded outward, sending its inhabitants hurtling in all directions out into space. One of those figures flipped himself around, spun and landed on an outer planetoid. With his cape floating up behind him, Darth Vader kicked off of the metallic rock and guided himself easily onto another one. Landing with ease he fanned his arms and out ignited his bright red lightsaber and split oncoming debris as it passed near him. He repeatedly kicked up and jumped from rock to rock.

With feet first he burst through the air shield and landed onto another small planetoid inside. He jumped again and with his lightsaber swinging in bright red arcs he sliced through the web of connecting ropes that crisscrossed between the upper most planetoids. After finally falling into the gravity field of the dock, he guided himself with his lightsaber stretched out before him. He dropped like a stone and crashed onto the deck of the _Venturous_ with a tremendous bang.

Captain Antilles spun around to see more than twenty of his crew rushing towards the large black figure that had just made a crater on his deck. The creature breathed loudly and rose up out of the small pit and stood tall. The bright red of his lightsaber illuminated some of the mysterious buttons and devices that lined the front of his spacesuit. As the pirates assailed him with their own swords he quickly dispensed with them one at a time, running them through.

Antilles froze in horror as the limbs of his closest comrades flew up and were scattered about the deck. His first mate jumped in front of him and blasted his own rapid firing laser rifle only to have the creature raise his sword of fire and cast the laser bolts away as if he were swatting flies.

"Run for it, Captain! Get help, I'll keep it busy!"

The first mate rushed at Vader with his drawn sword. Vader grabbed him up with his free arm while searing off both of his hands in one terrible swing of his lightsaber, then simply turned and cast the man over the side. He walked slowly towards Captain Antilles who was standing frozen still. He had not moved.

"What evil demon spat you out of hell!" the Captain said hoarsely as he backed up from the approaching monster. Vader's loud mechanized breathing starkly swept over the silence of the dead who lay all around.

"Where is the crew of the Millennium Falcon?" Vader asked in a booming voice.

"The Falcon?" Antilles eyes opened wide and he anxiously stammered on. "You want Solo? Captain Han Solo? Well, I have him. Aye- and ya' best stop ravengin' my crew if you want him!" the Captain said quickly as he backed up against the side rail of the ship.

Vader approached him with an outstretched hand towards his throat. At the same moment another pirate leaned over a parapet just above them and yelled out.

"Captain!" yelled the older man who had just come down from the upper sails and was looming over Vader back.

The man drew his blaster and fired repeatedly at Vader. Instantly Vader turned as his lightsaber went up and blocked the oncoming laser blasts. Vader deflected most of them directly back at the poor man who took several redirected hits. He fell over the edge and dropped at Vader's feet. Vader turned back towards the Captain just in time to see him with his gun of an arm aimed directly at Vader's head. Antilles grinned widely while he fired. He felt for sure he had defeated this angel of death.

Vader threw himself back, giving him the microsecond he needed to raise his lightsaber and split the speeding projectile. With his arm raised he guided the pieces to his sides where they passed him harmlessly. Antilles fired over and over while Vader stood tall and continued to block the shots, slowly walking towards the captain. Finally he lunged at Antilles with his lightsaber and sheared his forearm clean off, sending the large gun-arm right over the side of the ship and it clanged against the hull all the way down. Antilles fell backward as Vader raised his red sword high up to level a final blow. Suddenly he froze.

Beyond all of the explosions and cannon fire, the Dark Lord of the Sith heard a distinct far off sound that gripped him and shook him to his core. It was the slow searing sound from someone igniting the weapon of a Jedi.

Vader turned to see far down below on the docks the faint and very bright blue glow of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber coming to life. It was held aloft by the rebel pilot who had caused so much trouble. Luke, the son of the Jedi, was again wielding the force with great strength. He was running past a wookie, swinging his weapon haphazardly, and quite successfully, fighting off dozens of laser blasts from attacking stormtroopers. Vader leapt up onto the top rail and dove off, dropping out of sight. Antilles grabbed and cradled his amputated limb as he crawled back in exasperation. He slowly disappeared below deck.


	27. Chapter 27

Luke wasn't thinking anymore. Chewie was right behind him. His sole mission of the moment was to cut a line to Han and get everyone on board the Millennium Falcon. The stormtroopers were not quite sure what to make of him as he deflected their laser hits and kept coming. Some rushed him in single attacks and were quickly cut down by Luke, who was swinging his lightsaber with deadly force at anything close. The remaining troopers started to create a formation. They allowed Luke to penetrate their ranks quickly and closed in behind him. Chewie fired off rounds to protect them from the rear but they were surrounded now and the troopers were closing fast.

Their Imperial training kicked in and they stood firm and coordinated the attack. The plan was to cut down the rebels in seconds with overwhelming combined laser fire. Luke leapt out and raised his lightsaber.

Luke felt the gaze on him from all around. He could sense the excitement and the anxiety of the troopers aiming their weapons, all of them set to get a hit. He could almost hear the clicks of all of the triggers surrounding him. It was easy to sense which ones were going off first, which was next. The heat of the laser blasts searing through the air, approaching from a specific direction. He simply raised his lightsaber and blocked the first one from behind him, deflecting it down to the ground. Then the next was from the front. Harmlessly he bounced it to his side. Then another from a different side, then two more together. A simple swipe took care of those. Then a few more came in and he batted them away. On the next one he was able to focus more and direct the blast back in the direction in from which it came. He couldn't see if it struck anything because he had to contend with more shots.

The only thing that frustrated him was that his mind raced too fast for his arms to physically keep up. He calmed down and focused his movements. He spun and swung the lightsaber with ease and returned the lasers to their shooters. The round was done in what had seemed like minutes, but it all took place in less than a second. Finally he remembered to breathe.

The remaining troopers broke formation on either side and rushed Luke. He started running with Chewbacca as several more blasts came in towards Chewie. He was able to get in front of the wookie and deflect them to one side. They reached Han who was pinned down between two small pirate fighter vessels.

"That was some show back there. You're getting the hang of that thing pretty fast," Han said to Luke.

"I guess so."

"Can you get us in there," Han said, pointing towards the entrance to the Millennium Falcon that was just a few hundred feet away.

"I'll do my best," Luke answered as laser bolts repeatedly hit the ships on either side of them.

With that Luke took a deep breath and stood up. He ran out from behind the two ships and turned back towards the troopers behind them. He swung his lightsaber around in large loops as Han and Chewie ran past him. Blasts were deflected back towards the troopers. A panel on the bottom hull of the Falcon opened up and a long laser rifle popped out. It jumped to life, jutting back and forth spraying laser fire, firing multiple bursts all over the dock.

There were troopers waiting ahead of the trio set to ambush them as they approached, only to be expelled by the rapid fire gun and scattering into the open. Han and Chewie fired as well and the way ahead of them was all clear. Luke stayed back a little and kept deflecting blasts. Han and Chewie ran up the familiar ramp, which was repaired now and felt a little stronger to Han. He thought that was a nice surprise, and was hoping there were more repairs to the ship that was his again. Running into the hold, he was resolute that no one was going to take it from him again.


	28. Chapter 28

Badjun Conjo had been having a terrific day, the best in years. He had discovered a fabulous prize, been able to claim a ship as reward, and had been restored to the rank of Captain with honors. That all changed in the past twenty minutes. The base he called his home for the past several years was attacked and overrun. Worse than that, a ship that he had been having great luck in fixing and getting ready for flight had suddenly and inexplicably been giving him non-stop headaches. After the successful repair of the sub-light engines, power systems, navigational computer and hyperspace engines, now the ship's central computer was refusing to listen to him as he tried to launch. It was not a complicated machine. You tell it what to do and it is just supposed to do it. Conjo had dealt with this kind of computer many times before, and usually it just worked. He wasn't used to getting errors, or crashes, or glitches. Apparently the computer didn't like him, and it wasn't shy about making that point known.

Conjo paced the deck and halls of the ship trying to work a solution when cannon fire erupted nearby. He quickly ran to his team mate working with him on the problem, the little blue and silver R2 unit. It was apparently a parting reward sent from Captain Antilles. The droid was truly a gift from above. It was instrumental in fixing all of the engines and especially the navigation systems. It was as smart as any engineer he had worked with, giving all of the right advice. There was no one on base willing to help Conjo and he really didn't know where he would be without this Artoo.

Now, when the situation was dire, the little driod was as dumbfounded as he was on why the ship's computer was being so obstinate. He was starting to think Solo had programmed the thing to behave this way. Maybe there was some secret code or command. He asked R2-D2 to ask the computer, talk to it again and find out while he was still connected to its terminal in the main hold. Then the droid began to beep and whir, and shake side to side. "Progress!" Conjo excitedly thought as he ran to the cockpit for his translator to see what Artoo was going on about.

The moment he got there his heart sank as he read Artoo's translation. It was an extremely rude response from the Falcon, including a note that the ship was displeased with the odor of its new captain, and it would not listen anymore until that was addressed.

Conjo looked around the cockpit for specialized sensors and tried to reason how the ship could possibly know about his odor problems. That's when the sound of the Falcon's lower rapid-firing laser gun sent him crouching behind the pilot's chair. He turned on the aft sensors and saw Imperial stormtroopers scattered around the ship, and being blasted away by his own guns!

"Now how did it know to do that?" Conjo wondered aloud. He leaned into the screen and saw two figures running towards the ramp. He hit the controls to close the ramp and, just as earlier, there was no response.

He couldn't make out who the first person was in the small screen, but it was a pirate, not a stormtrooper. Finally he thought, some help from Antilles to man the ship and get him out of here. The next figure was too large to be a man. He didn't recognize the creature until it turned towards the sensors. It was the wookie! The man – was that Solo?

Quickly Conjo sprang up from his chair and looked for a weapon. He had left his blaster back near the R2 unit. He needed something, he needed help! There was a long wrench in a toolbox tucked by the side of the cockpit. He reached for it and raised it as he heard footsteps thumping up the hallway towards the cockpit. He looked for somewhere to hide but it was too late as Han Solo burst into the cockpit, stopped and stared at him with raised eyebrows.

"I am the Captain of this vessel! I order you to vacate it at once!" Conjo yelled as fiercely as he could and raised the large wrench up high at Han and swung for his head.

"C'mon, really?" Han replied as he ducked the swing easily and wrapped Conjo's arm painfully behind his back. "Chewie!" Han yelled back up the hallway.

"Arrrrgh!" Chewbacca came running in and grabbed the man's arm from Han. With his other arm he grabbed the wrench and ripped it out of Conjo's hands. It was his best wrench and that made him particularly angry. Chewie held the wrench tightly and with his other arm he grabbed the back of his the creature's shirt. He lifted Conjo right up and promptly dragged him out of the cockpit, down the hallway, through the cabin and threw him clear down the ramp. Conjo went tumbling sideways all the way past Luke, who was backing up towards the ramp. Conjo scampered and crawled a bit out of the way and stayed down. He thought for sure something was broken.


	29. Chapter 29

Luke saw the creature was down and out and continued to back his way up, deflecting laser blasts with ease. With one foot on the ramp he could hear an excited R2-D2 whistling on board behind him and was anxious to join him. Then he saw a dark figure approaching very quickly beyond all of the troopers. It was a man, tall and all in black, streaming past everyone as if they were standing still. There was a foreboding presence about him, about his movements. It caused Luke to stop and unknowingly halt his breathing. He paused at the edge of the ramp and waited a moment for the figure to get closer.

Time seemed to slow. Luke could hear the gears inside the laser gun of the Falcon very slowly turning and aiming itself on the new target approaching. It fired rounds of lasers towards the black caped man who ignited a bright red lightsaber and harmlessly batted away the blasts. The red glow danced around him as he ran in long strides towards Luke.

Luke's remembered that red glow, the distinctive flashes it made as that lightsaber struck the lightsaber of his teacher and mentor Ben Kenobi on the other side of the large landing bay back on board the Death Star. Obi-Wan was his Jedi name, struck down by the same evil man as his father. Leia described him as a monster. The iron fist of the Empire itself. And without a doubt this was him, Darth Vader.

The image of his Aunt and Uncle's burnt corpses flashed before him. Anger and hatred surrounded and filled Luke's heart. The excitement of the moment pounded in his chest. Revenge!

How would a Jedi react in this situation? How would his father react? Protect his friends, defend the ship so they can escape, and strike down the enemy in doing so. Rid the universe of this evil. That would be a worthy goal of any Jedi. The force was with him today, and he felt like he was just the one who could do it.

Luke slowly stepped off of the ramp and raised his lightsaber. The approaching figure sensed a change and he slowed down to a walk and raised his lightsaber as well. When he was within earshot Luke was about to yell out to the monster, yell out who his father was, who his teacher was, who it was that was about to destroy him. The engines of the Millennium Falcon ignited and roared just over his head, and Luke took another step away from the ramp as it started to close. Then a distant voice drifted through him like a cool breeze. It was a voice he had not heard since the Death Star, since the Great Victory. It was the voice of his mentor. It was Ben!

"Run, Luke. Run!"

Luke's jaw dropped open. He had no time to listen. Vader sensed something and began to run again towards Luke. Luke squeezed the lightsaber. He was here to do this. He was meant to do this, today- now! He knew he must fight.

"Run!" echoed Ben, louder now.

Tears streamed down his face as he grimaced and gnashed his teeth towards the approaching darkness. His heart was exploding in his chest as he steadied himself for the battle. Again he heard the voice. Finally he cried out in pure agony, gave in to his mentor, and kicked out with his legs, throwing himself back and up into the closing ramp.


	30. Chapter 30

Lord Vader ran forward into the full exploding plasma wake of the Millennium Falcon's engines as they went full throttle. His held out his lightsaber in front of him. He was using the force to split the waves of energy and they passed by his sides. The heat blasted past him, igniting his long dark cape into red flames. He raised his other hand and started guiding any and all objects that were lying on the dock to fly upwards toward the spacecraft at terrific speed. He reached back and swung his arm violently and the two small fighter craft that had given shelter to the crew just moments earlier were flung up towards the Falcon. They went spinning upward fast, easily catching up to the escaping ship.

R2-D2 was still plugged into the Falcon's computers when his own sensors picked up all of the debris and dense objects being shot towards them. He quickly switched power from the front deflector shields as well as some of the power from the rest of the ship and maxed out the rear deflector shields to full power. He aimed the laser cannons and fired multiple bursts at the largest chunks, but they still careened towards the stern of the ship.

Luke gathered himself up and saw Artoo was not far away. He was about to congratulate him on a great job when the ship was struck. He was thrown completely off his feet. The Falcon spun sideways sending any loose objects up into the air, including Artoo. The droid was just about to jump the ship into hyperspace when his connection with the Falcon's computer was lost.

The Falcon's sub-light engines sputtered and were clearly damaged. It had enough momentum to clear the air shields of the pirate base, but it was struggling to gain speed. Vader was trying in vain to control the Falcon so instead he concentrated on the small planetoids that surrounded the base. The large metal rocks were slow to move, but Vader's tremendous command of the force pushed them towards the ship. From all directions they would converge in a matter of seconds and crush the hull and its crew.

Artoo came crashing down onto the Falcon's main deck and was beeping to Luke the entire time. As Luke scampered again to his feet, he looked down onto his wristband and read the translation. He then ran towards the cockpit. Han and Chewie were there struggling to get the ship back under control. Ahead of them several Imperial Star Destroyers were closing fast, but that was not the most urgent problem. Chewie was trying to get the ship turned away from the approaching planetoids. Enormous chunks of metallic rock were closing in when Luke ran in between them.

"Punch the hyperspace!" Luke yelled out.

"What?" Han said back to Luke.

"Artoo's got it all set. We can jump right now!"

"In the middle of these rocks? Are you nuts? They put in a new nav computer- we're still figuring it out", Han said as Chewie growled in agreement.

"I'm telling you, he's got it set and ready to go."

Han looked out at all of the massive planetoids that were quickly closing in on them and at the large Imperial destroyers beyond. He turned to Chewie and shook his head.

"I sure hope you're right, kid," Han said as he reached up and grabbed the hyperspace controls. "Here goes nothing," he paused to take a deep breath, and pulled them back.

The ship spun itself around in an automated roll and shot upwards through a thin seam in the planetoid field. A second later the hyperspace kicked on and all of the stars turned into long streaks in the cockpit windows. Luke was thrown back in the cockpit and landed against the rear wall. He let out a sigh of relief and, for the first time in many hours, he took a moment to lean back and relax.


	31. Chapter 31

Vader watched helplessly as the Falcon turned upward and escaped the first planetoids. The ship turned into a streak of light and jumped away, leaving the rocks colliding into themselves in the vacated space. Vader took a step back as his lightsaber slowly drew down and disappeared. His first thoughts were to the Emperor, and the conversation he was soon to have with him, and what his own failure would mean.

Rage consumed Vader. Cannon fire struck just behind him and jostled him from his thoughts. He turned to see that Antilles' ship had not tried to escape, but instead had circled around and was descending towards him with its guns blazing.

Darth Vader turned around, his cape still smoldering on fire behind him. His breathing was fast as he raised his arms to the hundreds of planetoids that were floating far above him just beyond the air shield. He drew his arms down slowly. They were visibly trembling as the force was summoned and it responded with great power. The huge chunks of metal and rock turned slowly and started to fall down towards the base. They picked up speed and passed through the air shield causing thunderous booms as they sped through the thin air, some even surpassing the speed of sound.

They crashed onto the dock with terrific force, splintering entire sections in seconds and sending debris everywhere. The stormtroopers who were scattered around the dock were thrown in all directions. With his arms still outstretched, Vader guided several large ship-sized rocks onto the main generators. With a tremendous explosion the gravity field was obliterated, as was the air shield that surrounded the base, The air of the station whooshed outwards and spread to nothingness, leaving a horrific void of silence in its place. Pirates and stormtroopers who were still engaged in battle with each other were all cast upwards, grabbing at their throats and chests as the vacuum of space emptied them of all breath. Many gaping mouths tried to yell and scream only to be trapped in silence. With the gravity gone, Antilles' ship tilted to one side, its engines overcompensating. The crew that was on deck let go of their weapons in panic as they floated up helplessly. They struggled to grab onto the upper most balks while trying to hold their breath, but one by one they were overcome and drifted off.

Vader still had his arms stretched out in rage. The fire on his cape was now extinguished and billowing black smoke trailed far behind him. He used the force to pull more rocks down onto the base. He was exerting so much that his legs were starting to depress into the floor.

The rocks came crashing down and pummeled the remaining vessels across the dock that were trying to take off, ripping them apart. Explosions of ordinance and fuel engulfed the dock and surrounded Vader in whirlwinds of flame.

The _Venturous _was now trying to escape. Antilles had turned his ship away from the destruction and opened its engines to full power. Vader paused some larger rocks that were coming down and redirected them towards the huge ship. He violently shot out his arms and the rocks burst into the ship broadsides, flying out the other side. Explosions burst from the holes left behind and the ship slowly ripped apart and split in two. Men were thrown out from the lower decks and drifted over Vader, expressions of horror still etched on their faces, cursing the black demon below. What was left of the ship slowly followed them.


	32. Chapter 32

The remaining crew that was still alive manned the guns and resumed firing at the small dark figure of Darth Vader below them. Antilles clamored away from the destruction in the middle of his ship and pushed aside one of his men to climb behind a large artillery cannon himself. As the split rear section of his ship veered out of control, he struggled with the gun with his one good arm and trained the sights carefully on Vader. What he saw made him pause. The dark creature was swiping away the massive laser blasts with his red lightsaber while reaching out with his other arm in grotesque twisted motions, summoning the very rocks that surrounded the base to obey his command. Antilles fired the cannon, full power non-stop. In seconds it started to give an overheat warning that was promptly kicked in by Antilles as he continued to shoot the gun.

"Blast you! Somebody land a hit on that devil!" he yelled out to the other gunners who shared the small section, the last still intact in his once proud flagship. He watched in horror as not a single shot hit the beast without getting deflected. Looking upward, Captain Antilles could see hundreds of rocks leaving the orbiting rings they had occupied for countless eons, all heading right for him.

Vader raised his arm and slammed it all the way down, sending him on one knee. Hundreds of boulders streamed past him overhead and converged on the broken hull. The ship collapsed and imploded from the force of the impacting rocks. The remains shattered into millions of pieces and scattered everywhere.

Vader stood up slowly and collapsed his lightsaber. There was little movement throughout the remains of the destroyed base. Debris drifted in all directions and some explosions continued where ships were once docked. The Sith lord was completely drained. He had overspent his energy, beyond anything he had done with the force in many years. His breathing continued heavily as he tried to figure out why he had lost control. It was the sight of Skywalker, son of his enemy, he concluded. And beyond that he let him get away, and he still had trouble accepting that. A foe that was vanquished long ago seemed to be reaching back from death, and Vader absolutely despised the idea. He kicked his boots down and drifted up through the weghtless cloud of broken spacecraft and structure. He triggered a small switch on his chest. An emergency beacon summoned a shuttle that was immediately dispatched from the nearest star destroyer to meet him.

As he coasted up and guided himself past the large floating rubble of the base, he saw that there were many shocktroopers still alive. Unlike the usual stormtroopers, they had a small supply of air, like Vader. In fact, Vader had a direct hand in the design of the suits they wore. The concept of the shocktrooper was his idea, and this was their first mission, and Vader concluded, their last. They were a complete failure. Their only objective was to secure the Millennium Falcon, a civilian craft simply docked at a base, and they couldn't even manage that. He saw some of them clinging to rocks, pulling each other together. They were waving, desperately trying to get help. Vader ignored their pleas and drifted on. They would pay for their failure, and for his.

It took a long time for the shuttle to reach Vader, too long he thought. But it gave him time to calm down, and to think of an explanation for the Emperor. Yet again he would have to explain away a failure. He would try to focus on the future, plan to double his efforts to find that ship again, to find the rebels, even if it meant he had to send probes to every inhabitable planet in the galaxy. He feared that it would not be enough for his master, and he would accept the consequences if it was not. The shuttle arrived and approached Vader. With slow and deliberate movements, it opened its hatch and Vader disappeared into the darkness within.


	33. Chapter 33

Chewbacca returned to the cockpit still carrying his best wrench, which he carefully placed back into the toolbox in the corner of the room. He was doing some last minute fixes on the sub-light engines that had been damaged in the attack. Luke walked in close behind him and sat in the rear seats.

"Are we there yet?" Luke asked Han, who was facing forward and had his head down close to a scope on the control panel.

"Yeah- good timing. We're just about to come out. I sure hope somebody is still around." Han said as he continued to scrutinize the scopes.

"Somebody will be there," Luke replied. "I know Leia, she wouldn't leave without us."

"You know her? Alright- we're about to find out how much. Go ahead Chewie," Han said to his first mate.

Chewbacca grabbed the controls and pushed the hyperspace drive levers to the off position. Instantly the sub-light engines kicked on and the Falcon shot into local space. Han raised his eyebrows and shot a sly smile back to Luke.

"Know her pretty well?" he said, but as he turned back around the smile left his face, and he stared out of the cockpit windows at the distant star field before them. They were alone.

Han leaned over and double checked their position and Chewie scanned for any ships. There was no rebel fleet, no armada, not even a transport- nothing. They had all left. Everyone remained quiet for a few moments. Chewie growled out and broke the silence and snorted some information over to Han.

"What is it? Is it a ship?" Han asked Chewie.

"Yaaarrrr!" said Chewie as he adjusted the trajectory of the ship and guided it towards something he picked up on his sensors: a small metallic object with minimal power.

They approached the object slowly and carefully. All of them were peering out of the windows to try to make out what it was. At first they suspected it might be a bomb, some sort of Imperial trick. As they pulled in closer Han turned on the forward lights. The brightness of the lights reflected off of the small object in all directions as it twinkled in bright gold. They strained to make out its shape when the unmistakable form of an arm came up to shield itself from the brightness of the lights. Luke stepped between the pilot seats and leaned close towards the glass.

"Is that, I mean- could that be," Luke was interrupted by the very loud beeps and squawks of R2-D2. He had made his way to the entrance of the cockpit and was now shaking himself back and forth about excitedly as he could.

"I think that answers your question," Han smiled as they all turned to Artoo and back to the golden droid curled up in a ball just beyond the front of the ship.

"C3-PO," Luke said softly to the glass. "Are we glad to see you."

They all went the stern of the ship and waited for the small rear decompression airlock to fill and normalize. When it opened, the golden protocol droid bent down a little and stepped into the cabin and turned his torso from side to side as he looked at everyone.

"My joints are almost frozen! R2-D2! I knew there must have been a reason they missed the rendezvous. You're lucky our master doesn't throw you out into that horrible void himself!" C3-PO said in his usual undulating tones.

"Hey- he's the one who got us out of trouble. Where's Leia?" Luke asked quickly.

"Really, sir? These astrodroids can really overstep their bounds, Master Luke. I would be more careful with this one in the future, if I may say so, sir."

"Hey, did ya hear Luke? Where's the fleet?" Han repeated to the droid who straightened up, cocked his head slightly and leaned back at Han's curt approach.

"Well, master Solo, the princess felt certain you would be arriving, so she ejected me out into space to wait for you. Then the entire fleet just blasted away from here."

Luke stepped up, "Where did they go?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir. At least they didn't tell me, Master Skywalker. In fact, I was hoping that _you_ would know where they went." C3-PO was looking around at the blank faces and his programming told him clearly that something was amiss, so he searched for another answer. "R2-D2, do you know where they went?"

Artoo quickly bleeped back something to Threepio, and it was quite loud.

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it. Your tales of adventures are usually exaggerated, so how do I know what really happened." Threepio shot back.

Luke turned to Han. "They wouldn't just tell him where they were going. If the Empire showed up they would have got it out of him," he said.

"Was there anything Leia said to you, anything about where they might go?" Han asked slowly.

"No- actually, there was one thing she mentioned. She had a message for you, unrelated to your question, I'm afraid. She said to remind you of something, Master Solo. She said that you should 'remember the smell'. Quite frankly, I don't know what she was talking about, but when I asked her about it she ignored me completely."

Han walked away a few steps and stood next to Luke muttering to himself. "Smell?"

"What smell?" Luke asked Han.

"I don't know. Smell." Han looked around and his eyes fell on Chewbacca. "Smell!" he yelled out, leaning in and pointing at the face of Chewie.

"Chewbacca smells?" Luke asked which prompted Chewie to growl a dissenting response.

Threepio chimed in, "I'm afraid I have limited odor sensors, but Artoo is well equip-"

Han raised his hand and covered C3-PO's small speaker that made up his mouth, which, due to his protocol programming, instantly stopped him from speaking.

"What's the worse smell we ever ran into- all of us?" Han asked Luke.

Luke paused for a second confused and then his face lit up. "The garbage chute, the compactor!"

"Right- and where were we?" Han asked as he turned away walked quickly towards the bridge with Chewie following him. Luke and the others followed.

"The Death Star- but I don't understand, it was blown up!" Luke answered loudly, trying to keep up.

"We were in the Alderaan system. That's where she was headed, probably to say a final goodbye or something." Han said as he sat down in the pilot's seat and strapped himself in. Chewbacca did the same to his right as did Luke behind them. "Chewie, get the new nav computer online. We have to get over there, fast!"


	34. Chapter 34

The sun was bright that streamed into the windows of the command starship that displayed the seal of royalty of Alderaan on its sides. Leia was inside her quarters and had retired to go to bed, but she could not sleep. Her ship was on the edge of the debris field where earlier she had traveled through with care looking for remains. There were none. After that she had participated in a memorial ceremony with all of the survivors from her home planet. Now she sat there looking at the millions upon millions of tiny specks of rock and wondered where everything had gone. All of the cities, the homes, the buildings- the people. Not a trace of anything man made survived. Nothing of them was floating among the planet debris. And yet, here it all was. Whatever was left of her family, they were here, and here they would stay. Somehow she felt closer to them, but still it was not nearly enough to ease her pain. So many lives snuffed out in an instant by such evil. The resolve inside of her grew strong. This must not happen again.

She leaned back, still trying to take it all in when she noticed a speck of light. Not much more than a thin streak, but it was something. A ship? Imperial? There was no sign they remained here, or have been back since. Perhaps travelers returning to Alderaan from some long voyage, only to find this. She was hoping that would happen while she was here. Maybe it would be someone she knew. Then another thought raced through her mind. Maybe it was _them_. She gathered herself and ran to the bridge. The crew had dwindled to the night watch and they were very surprised to see her.

"Did you see that, off starboard- some distance away," she said pointing out past the large windows that lined the front of the bridge. " It looked like it was something," she exclaimed.

"Yes, we saw it. It is a ship, just jumped in from hyperspace, " said a thin young commander who was sitting behind a large control panel and looking down into a small screen. The orange glow of the panel was the only thing illuminating the darkened bridge. "It is rebel, your highness," he paused and looked up at her. "It's the Millennium Falcon."


	35. Chapter 35

It took an excruciatingly long time for the air lock between the two ships to stabilize. Leia wrung her hands a bit as she stepped towards the door. This had been a very trying day, to say the least. She had a slim hope of finding survivors here, long lost relatives who may have just missed the destruction. She was without hope now, but on the other side of this metal airlock there was something. In that beaten down old junk of a freighter was something she could hang on to. It was the closest thing to a family she had left.

The door sprung open and she was the first to step through. She entered the cabin of the Falcon and the warm air of her ship rushed in with her. Luke was about to speak when she ran over to Han and hugged him tightly. Han was thrown back a bit, but hugged her back in kind.

"Nice to see you too," Han said as they backed away from each other.

She turned to Luke, "Good to see you, Luke." She approached him and hugged him as well, though not as tight as he would have liked.

"It's great to finally see you again," Luke said quickly as Leia leaned back.

Chewbacca growled hello, and Leia took that as a warning not to try a hug with him, so she nodded and smiled at the wookie.

"I see you relayed my message, well done," she said to C3-PO, who promptly bowed slightly.

"It took a little while- you know him," Han said. "Listen, sorry about- well-" Han paused awkwardly and motioned out beyond the ship's walls towards the planetary remains that were present all around them. He was caught on what to say next.

"Yes- thank you," Leia said slowly as she took a breath. She realized her immersion in self-pity was at an end when it started to come from _him_ as well. "Well, we are running late. The fleet does have a new destination, and they are probably there already."

"Oh yeah? Where is it?" Luke asked Leia as she turned and started to walk back to her ship.

"Wait a minute," Han said as he walked quickly next to her. "Don't you want to know why we missed the rendezvous?"

"I'm sure you have a good explanation. I'm guessing your reward money is no longer on board," she answered tersely as she walked, then turned back to Luke.

"It's called Hoth. It's an ice planet, far out of Imperial space. One of the generals used to train there. It has an old existing base, ready to use."

"As a matter of fact it isn't on the ship," Han continued, walking past Luke to keep up with her. He continued louder, and with a small smirk. "It's probably blown up in a million pieces, which is what we came pretty close to being too, from the _Empire_ - just in case you care!"

"And pirates too!" Luke blurted out, walking faster to keep up with Han and Leia.

"Really," Leia stopped just before crossing the hatchway. "Pirates? What a surprise!" Leia said with a calm smile. Then she shot Han a cold look before she turned and walked back into her ship.

Han looked back at Luke. "Why were we rushing to get back here?" he asked him.

Luke shrugged and both men stepped into Leia's ship.

Chewbacca slowly bent down and entered as well with Threepio following him.

"Did you hear that?" C3-PO motioned down to R2-D2. "An ice planet? How typical. Do you think they would have asked us before choosing such a dreadfully sounding place?"

R2-D2 beeped and blurted various tones to answer as they both followed the rest out of the Falcon.


End file.
